Harry's three and a half years old

Harry getting his ears checked

Harry had his 3.5 year well baby check up yesterday. It was not a good morning. Usually the boys do really well at appointments together but yesterday was one of those days you don't want to look back on years from now. Harry wouldn't cooperate and William was loud, whined and complained the entire visit. Plus both boys were being so loud that I couldn't hear the doctor and she couldn't hear me. It was just not a good day.

Onto the visit itself. Harry did not do so well with the eye exam but they said he passed. I guess we will worry about that later. We will continue to blame all his bumps and falls on his clumsiness. So I have been really concerned with Harry's ears. His tubes fell out a couple months ago and he has been getting ear infections back to back again. I am concerned because although his speech is cute, he talks like he is under water with some pronunciations. I am sure this is the way he hears things. So I am afraid of permanent damage. Plus back to when he first got his tubes at age one, the ENT told us we waited longer than we needed to and that he would never get rid of his ear infections because his ear drums were concave and held the fluid in them. But our pediatrician wouldn't refer us to an ENT because she is so conservative with that kind of stuff. Anyhow, I don't want to make the same mistake twice. Harry does not have the personality to complain about his ears but I don't want him to be in unnecessary pain. She checked his ears and said he still has his infections but is on the mend. She is more concerned with his speech and wants to wait on the ear issue. California is a bit different. Because Harry is 3, a speech pathologist will not see him until the unified school district screens him. So we have to wait until August to make that appointment.

Onto the next problem (which I also think is related to his ears) is his nutrition. Harry is a horrible eater. He basically only likes breakfast foods and chicken nuggets. Nothing else. And you can't take away snacks in hopes that he will be hungry for dinner. He just won't eat. He will eat one meal a day and that is it. So when he says he is hungry, you take the opportunity to feed him what you can (he woke up at 12:30am last night hungry and we sat down at the table for a meal). But I think because his ears hurt, it probably hurts to chew and swallow. So once we get his ears fixed, hopefully that will help with his speech and nutrition. He is very anemic so he is on iron drops for the next 6 weeks. None of this is a shock but it still sucks. I just want him to be happy and healthy.

He is super tall for his age (just like William). He is in the 95th percentile for height. And he is underweight, the 20th percentile for weight.

So all in all, he has bad ears, a minor speech problem, way too skinny and is anemic. Hoping the next couple months come with answers and resolutions for his health.