Differences

I don't know why I am still so amazed at how different children can be, even in the same family. You'd think by the third one I'd be all bored with their uniqueness.

Yesterday morning, D had her 4-month well-baby visit. M is still on break from school so I had all three kids to wrangle at the doctor's office. Everyone knows that going to the doctor's office is fun, fun, fun! Or not so much.

To be fair, the kids actually tolerated the visit fairly well. I'm tired and cranky because I keep staying up too late at night trying to get four million and three things done and then getting sidetracked by Twitter or Crackbook for hours. I can't be the only one who does that...am I?

Anywho. We arrived on time for our appointment which, in hindsight I should know better than to schedule an appointment on a Monday morning. We were there for an hour and a half and saw the doctor for approximately 5 minutes of that time. Now that is some well-spent time and money. What's that, like $1800 an hour pay scale? Nice work if you can get it.

I really like our family physician though. She's a mom too and she's really laid-back. I appreciate her reassuring attitude about the multitude of things moms freak out about.

D was already stripped to a dry diaper for her weigh-in and measuring. Her stats are not at all proportionate. 73rd percentile for length, 40th percentile for head circumference and 28th percentile for weight.

The doctor took one look at D and D's bottom lip pushed out and started quivering. She's already quite particular about who she'll smile at and when. So this was not a great sign. However, D reconsidered and let the good doctor poke and prod her to check if she was in good working order.

The pronouncement? She's perfect. Which, you know, I knew already.

But that 28th percentile was tugging at my brain. My mom and mother-in-law have both commented on how small D is so I thought I'd check with the doctor.

Tell your mom and your mother-in-law she's perfect.

Have I mentioned I love that doctor?

After checking M's and K's ears and throats quickly since she heard they have colds (looked fine) she was out the door.

Enter the nurse with FOUR syringes and an oral immunization. D took the oral one with ease. Then it was time for the big sticks. The scream started with the first stick and progressed to that ear-splitting wail where you're sure your child just stopped breathing for a few seconds. Yes, I had a supremely pissed off D. The nurse forged ahead to get them all done and soon I had my red-faced snotty-nosed half-naked pissed-off 4-month-old back in my arms and ready to nurse until she passed out.

And that was with having a dose of Tylenol before we went.

So, mom, D is fine. I don't need to start feeding her steaks quite yet.

I know the reason they're wondering is because my other two kids were big babies. M was a little over 17 lbs at 4 months and K was already 20 lbs at 3 1/2 months. So D is tiny at 13 lbs 4 oz. but she is just petite. And her own person already.

Are your kids distinctly different from one another in some way?