Being thrown to the wolves

Evan had his 4 year doctor visit yesterday, and I guess it went well. He was very cooperative with the nurse for weight, height, and blood pressure, and mostly compliant with everything the doctor did. He didn't freak out until the guy tried to look in his ears, but that's such an improvement over previous years I didn't mind. I mean, he used to start freaking out when we put him on the scale.

Anyway, Evan is 3' 4" tall and weighs 36.5 pounds--pretty much right in the middle of the pack for his age. Everything else looked fine, aside from the usual talk of developmental delay and diagnosis. Now let me say that we've been pretty lucky, and we only see the doctor about once a year since Ev rarely gets sick (knock wood). So at our visit last March, Ev had not yet uttered a single word, and was still struggling with a lot of social and texture issues. He's made such huge strides in the past nine months or so--started speaking and is now using sentences, resolved several of his texture aversions, and strengthened his social skills, both with adults and other kids.

But the doctor was quick to point out areas where Evan is still lagging. He kept referring to the "normal" four year old behavior when Ev would react to something, and I guess that bothered me a little. We've shifted to a focus on Evan's good progress, especially since there's so much to be excited about in that area. I realize he's still very far behind where he should be, but at the same time he's so far ahead of where he was. I like Ev's doctor, don't get me wrong, but it was a little tough to get the same old developmental delay lecture. I've grown used to the teachers and therapists that see Ev weekly and can see all the progress that I see. I guess when you're the doctor, you just get used to seeing what's wrong and it's hard to point out the good stuff. I also got a lecture on potty training, but again no useful information or help or suggestions, thank you very much for nothing.

Enough of me being snarky--what's important is that Evan continues to be healthy and keeps growing. I'm proud of all the progress he's made over the past year, and I know he's going to continue to surprise us all.