Doctor and Dentist

Miranda had her five-year doctor's visit and Xavier had his first dental visit today.

Miranda's visit to the doctor went very well. She is 43 inches tall and weighs 38 pounds, which makes her a little taller and a little lighter than average for her age, or, as the doctor put it, perfect. They were impressed by her ability to write her name, and she did very well on the vision and hearing test (in following directions, anyway -- her vision is not perfect, but not bad enough yet to need correction.) In fact, the only serious crying that was done was Xavier throwing a major fit because he was not allowed to accompany Mommy and Miranda to the bathroom to get the urine sample.

We did discuss Miranda's proclivity for panic attacks over irrational things (like turning into a dragon), and the doctor said it sounds like a rather extreme case of the "monster under the bed" syndrome, but probably nothing to worry about at this point in time. Miranda assured the doctor that she would be over it by the end of the month.

Then, in the afternoon, Xavier went to the dentist. He did such a great job and his teeth are in such good shape that the dentist told my husband that Xavier needn't come back for a year. As a reward for such good behavior, Xavier was allowed to select a toy from the "treasure box". He immediately picked out a toy gun.

Now, Adam and I are not big gun fans, being the liberal types that we are, and we have not allowed the kids to have any toy guns. When my husband saw what Xavier had selected, he said, "Oh, Xavier, why don't you pick out something else? We don't like guns at our house."

Xavier gamely picked something else out, but once they were in the van, he asked, "Why don't we like guns?"

"Well, because guns hurt people, Xav."

"Daddy," Xavier said patiently, "This was just a toy. It isn't real. Toy guns can't hurt people."