My big guys

In "honor" of Alexander's birthday, he had his five-year well visit with his new pediatrician today. She was a great doctor and she and Alexander got along very well. He was quite talkative and charming, as he sometimes can be. He really entertained her with stories of preschool, his birthday and birthday party, and what he likes about snow, among other things. I was not surprised to find that he is developmentally on track, healthy, and growing properly. He continues to be above the 97th percentile for height and was at about the 80th percentile for weight, which is great. They also now share the Body Mass Index, and his was at the 60th percentile which is also just fine. At last year's four-year well visit, Alexander's vision and hearing tests were inconclusive because I believe he was a little confused about what we were asking of him. Today they repeated the vision test and referred us to an eye doctor. He only tested at 20/40 with both eyes open, so probably needs glasses. No surprise there, although he's a little younger than I would have expected. We'll see what the eye doctor says.

As Alexander was attempting to do the eye exam with one eye covered, Jack randomly lost his balance and fell into the corner of a wall. Given his obvious cold symptoms and apparent loss of equilibrium, the nurse's assistant became concerned that he may have an ear infection, so she swiftly made us an appointment with an available doctor who confirmed that he has a double ear infection, so we were off to the pharmacy to pick up an antibiotic. We abandoned Alexander's vision test since he had already "failed" with both eyes open. Closing one would only make it worse. Jack doesn't seem miserable and hadn't complained about his ears, so it's not too big of a deal, but we did end up at the Kaiser medical center for over an hour and a half. Thankfully the kids were wearing their pleasant pants and did not cause me too much trouble. They were rewarded with Happy Meals. :)

On an unrelated note, a woman in the waiting room of the pharmacy struck up a conversation with me, asking me if I was expecting a third boy or a girl. I answered that we would soon have another boy, and she said, "I have three boys, too. I know what that is like!" I looked at her twin daughters in confusion. She expanded, "I had three boys and was done, until I was surprised by these girls. Are you planning to have any more?" Uh... I wasn't planning on it, but you've scared me now, Lady!!

Aaaand, on another unrelated note, we are in the midst of Snowpocolypse II and are expecting 20-30" of snow by tomorrow night. Please, don't expect pictures this time. I plan to stay warm and cozy in my house. I am not sure how I will reward my husband for his shoveling efforts, but it may involve something cooked with bacon and cheese, or perhaps something apple-cinnamony.

Happy Snow, everyone!