A New Pediatrician's Perspective

Miss A had a fitful night of sleep on Friday night and woke up Saturday morning complaining she didn't feel well.

We reluctantly scrapped our plans of going to the zoo and canceled a playdate with a dear friend.

I called the pedi from bed at 8:01 and they made us an appointment for 8:45. Thank goodness for Saturday office hours, but we had only 30 minutes to not only pack a bag for the pedi, but to pack a bag for Granna and Bapa's. We decided we would go there for the day for some QT.

We miraculously made it to the pedi on time and left there with three prescriptions - two for Miss A and surprisingly one for Mr. A. I learned a good lesson -- have the doctor give your other baby a once-over while you're there. That's what I did and we found out Mr. A has two ear infections again. His third set in about three months.

Having a pedi office with Saturday hours is great, but sometimes you have to see another doc like we had to this time. I'm not familiar with this pedi, so I was a little taken back by our conversation.

New pedi commented several times on Miss A's mature nature -- she was well-mannered, said please and thank you, put on her own tennis shoes and pants, and she is pretty much potty-trained.

Then he looked at my sweet baby boy...

Pedi: You know, having a boy after having such a mature two-year-old girl may not be such a great thing. You might actually think he's brain dead sometimes. (If new white-haired pedi didn't have a Santa-like twinkle in his eye, this Mommy would have gone postal.)

Me: Huh?

Pedi: Well, boys mature a lot slower than girls. You're going to be surprised at how much more constant instruction he will need.

Me: Well, now that you mention it, I've kind of noticed that. Miss A was taking her first steps at about Mr. A's age now. (I pointed to Miss A getting dressed all by herself) You mean Mr. A won't be getting himself dressed at two?

Pedi: (chuckles) He'll be taking off his pants, slinging them around his head and running up and down the hall. And you'll be lucky if you're as far along with potty training at three-years-old.

Me; Oh, man. Is it like that with all boys?

Pedi: Yes. The plus side is that you'll understand your husband a lot better after raising your son.

Thanks for the encouragement, doc.

I told my Mom what the seasoned pedi said and she laughed because she had my brother after having two girls. She said everything is a little slower with boys, but you get back what you expect out of them. If I expect he will be slower, then he will be. I think I'll just try not to compare the two and let my sweet baby boy do things on his own time...but with a lot of encouragement.

Kimberlee Norton is a Sr. Communications Specialist with Texas Health Resources and Mom of two.