Tyler's 3 year old checkup

I took Tyler for his 3 year old checkup this week. He hasn't really been sick so we haven't been to the doctor since his 2 year appointment except for his flu shot last fall. What a difference a year makes!! He was so easy! It was refreshing!

Of course, he goes right to the clock since he is OBSESSED with time!

Checking out the fish!

Tyler stood on the scale for his weight like a champ...last year, I had to hold him through tears and then they subtracted out my weight. He also backed right up to the wall for his height measurement, too. Just proof that he is growing up, sniff. His measurements checked out pretty normally...he is likely going to be average for height and weight.

Height: 37.5", 51st percentile (85th at 2 years, though he was SO squirmy I'm not sure this was entirely accurate.)

Weight: 32.6 lbs., 56th percentile (60th at 2 years)

While there were no shots at this appointment, there were quite a few new things...he had his hearing, vision and blood pressure checked. For the hearing test, he sat in my lap and had to wear headphones which he did not like at first at all. But once he got used to them, he made a silly face and laughed every time he heard the sounds in his ears, which checked out ok. The vision test was pretty ingenious, I thought...she held up a special camera with blinking lights and told him to look at it and say cheese. He did great and his vision checked out good, too. Tyler thought he was big stuff with the blood pressure cuff on and liked to watch the numbers go up and down. We had to do it a couple times on each arm because he wouldn't hold still, but this checked out fine, too.

Getting his blood pressure checked like a big boy!

Excited for his sucker after his good behavior!

When Dr. H came in, Tyler did really well, too. He talked to him and was cooperative during his checkup. Dr. H first asked him about his birthday party (what he did, ate, etc) and he was a little shy in responding, so I had to prompt him by saying we had a party at the splash park, we ate cupcakes, etc. He then piped up and told Dr. H that Granna dropped his cake on the floor! Ha! Dr. H laughed and thought that was the funniest thing ever that he would remember to say that.

I had 2 things I wanted to cover off with Dr. H when it came time for questions...potty training and tantrums. I was told to not worry about potty training...that some kids are harder to train than others. He thought it was a good idea to try 3 day bootcamp method that I have been considering but recommended he go without any underwear at all...that some kids need to have nothing on before they will go sit on the potty. We will try it and see!

As far as the tantrums, they are normal, which I knew. He said that there is a range for everything with children and that maybe Tyler's tantrums were more in the 7-10 range at times as compared to other kids, but that it was all normal. He said our goal in life as parents when it comes to discipline is to hurt their feelings. That if our discipline method did not hurt their feelings, then it wasn't strong enough or the right fit for our child. This was a big take away for me that I shared with Russ and it has really hit home. Here's hoping that his tantrums get less severe this year, though I hear that it's really the Terrible THREES and not the Terrible Twos.

We enjoyed a little playground time after his appointment before I took him to school and headed to work. Love this mess of a kid!