If an Elephant is Big, a Mouse is.......Grey.

Bennett and Rachel had their 4 and 2 year old check-ups last week. Beverlee came with us which was nice because I was able to take one child at a time into the room with me without trying to keep the other one occupied. Bennett went first and was really excited about it (obviously they aren't vaccinated or else they wouldn't like the dr.) Bennett loves my midwife appointments and helping pump the blood pressure collar and asking a million questions about things in the room.

This visit was right up his alley. The dr. let him look in her ear and eyes before she did his. He thought that was super cool. The most interesting part of the visit was her assessment of his mental capacities for his age. The questions were for 4-6 year olds, so she said not to worry if he couldn't do them all. My favorite one was the mouse being grey. She gave him examples of opposites and explained it all to him, but he insisted that mice are grey. Well, he is right, isn't he? She asked him this series of questions like, "What is a ceiling? What is concrete? What is a hedge." He doesn't know what a hedge is and was wondering why she was asking him such weird questions. He started getting the hang of it a little, but I think it was a too abstract for his analytical mind. He had to jump forward and backward, jump in place, stand on one foot, walk on his tiptoes and heels. It was quite entertaining.

She asked if he could catch a ball, and I had to say that he really can't, but he can smack the heck out of it with his baseball bat. We haven't worked too much on his sporting skills. He can hammer a nail into wood without smashing his finger most of the time and is really good with a phillips screwdriver. He builds reall neat objects with his blocks and building sets. He can write the letters A, E, F, H, I, L, O, P, Q, T, and X. He wrote an R once, but it was an accident. He recognizes all his numbers. I can ask him what time it is, and he will say, "It is eight, four, seven." He told me the other day at the store that we could buy and item because it only cost one, three, five. It is pretty funny. He has memorized Psalm 23, the Lord's Prayer, Luke 2:10-12 (Christ's birth), numerous Proverbs, and can sing I'll Fly Away and the Doxology. I love my little guy. He amazes me every day with how much he knows, and how eager he is to learn.

This really wasn't going to be a post bragging about Bennett, but I guess it turned into that. Hee, Hee.

Rachel's turn in the examination room didn't leave anything to brag about. She wouldn't speak to the dr. or cooperate in any way. I had to hold her head so the Dr. could look in her ears, and the dr. had to pry her mouth open to look at her throat. Not so fun. She cried when the stethoscope touched her, when she was measured and weighed. Her weight put her in the 75th percentile and her height put her a half an inch above the 100th percentile line. Wow, she is going to be tall. She was 2 inches taller than Bennett at birth, but I always attributed that to not being a vegetarian like I was while pregnant with Bennett. The power of protein I'll tell ya. She was over nine pounds, so maybe I need to lay off quite so much of it this time. Oh, for the record, Bennett was in the 75th percentle for his height and weight. Perfectly proportionate the dr. said.

I think it had been at least 2 years since Bennett's last dr. visit and a pretty long time for Rachel too. We don't go unless someone is really sick, and I don't think I can handle whatever's wrong. My kids are thankfully healthy aside from the occasional cold or flu, and I am not one that takes them to the dr. for those types of things. It is nice to be reassured that everything is normal and good though. Thank you Blue Cross Insurance!