Simon was scheduled for his two-year check-up Friday, and I decided to move ahead with it despite his ineligibility for getting the hepatitis and flu vaccine that should accompany the visit. After our last, disastrous, trip to the urgent care center last October, I vowed to follow up any subsequent trip with my regular pediatrician at the earliest opportunity.
Turns out that was very wise, but we’ll get there in a minute. First, the stats:
- Height: 35 ¾ inches. Simon has grown three inches in six months. He’s a tiny ¼ of an inch away from being in the 3T range and has zoomed up to the 75th percentile. This explains why some of his new pants seem suddenly short.
- Weight: At 27 ½ pounds, Simon has at last reached the 18-24 month range in size charts and remains in the 40th percentile. Pants with non-adjustable waists do not enter our house.
- Head circumference. No surprises here. We had to cut him out of his Halloween shirt for cryin’ out loud, and I have to toss all but one of his tees that don’t have buttons on the neck. Simon remains in the 95th percentile. That puts him in the 3-4T range for hats!
During the interview, we found that Simon has missed two milestones (he can’t jump, and he still prefers crawing up stairs to walking), is right on track for all the verbal milestones (lots of words, some sentences, can be understood half of the time), and hit the fine motor milestones a year ago (stacking blocks and holding a crayon). In fact, the first thing Simon said to me Friday morning was a very clear “I need a drink of water” (that’s “Ah need dink-a-wawa” phonetically).
On the medical front. Dr. Newstadt does not believe that Simon has an ear infection. He explained to me that Simon’s ears looked fine to him and that, even if they were red Thursday, red ears from fever and crying reflect light differently than red ears from infection do. I can’t even tell you how much I love the fact that Dr. Newstadt will take the time to explain things like this to me. We’ve got the right doctor for our family, that’s for sure.
He suspects Simon has strep, and he wishes he could have seen him Thanksgiving. To which I silently replied, “Careful what you wish for, doc, I’m sure I could find your house using Google maps.” Friday’s strep test was negative, but Simon had already had a dose of an antibiotic and his throat was very raw. We’re keeping him on five days of an antibiotic just to be on the safe side, and we are hoping-really, really hoping-that the next time Simon falls ill (Christmas?) it will be on a non-holiday weekday at around 11:00 a.m.
Random question from a non-parent…Do you worry about too many antibiotics, or too liberal use of same? Knowing you, I am 98% sure you have had this conversation with the saintly Dr. Newstadt
In fact, I do worry. As does Dr. Newstadt, who was not happy that the previous doc had misdiagnosed an ear infection and that the one before him prescribed the wrong antibiotic for a very real one. This time Simon’s blood work indicated a virus, but Dr. Newstadt could not rule out a strep infection since Simon’s throat was beet red and the relevant culture was not taken before we started antibiotics for a non-existent ear infection.
I’m trying to remember that we will likely have several months of these illnesses, and then Simon will build up an immunity to all but the most serious.
Incidentally, pediatricians are among the worst about antibiotic abuse. I think this is because they genuinely hate to see kids suffer and even more so because so many parents demand a pill or quick fix.