Endocrinologist

We took my son to the pediatric endocrinologist yesterday to be evaluated for falling off his growth curve.  It was a good visit and I am glad we took him to see her.  While my son is very tiny, he is also very healthy overall which is something about which she commented.  She noticed something that I had not when looking at his growth curves - his weight actually fell off before his height did.  This might be an indication that his growth issues have a nutritional component.  What exactly that means is unclear because calorically he consumes as many if not more than his sister who  has no growth issues.  Therefore, his problem may be types of calories rather than amount - meaning he's not getting enough protein & fat in his diet (this would make sense since my son prefers grains, fruits, & veggies to protein/higher fat foods).

She examined my son, talked to us and gathered information, and then sent him for some bloodwork to check growth hormone levels, nutritional deficiencies, and GI disorders (namely celiac disease).  Her gut feeling after examining him was that everything would be normal.  She referred us to a nutritionist and our appointment with her is later in the summer.  We won't get the results back for a couple of weeks.

While I am thrilled that we are going to get some answers, I felt pretty down last evening after the appointment.  There is nothing like someone telling you that your kid is too skinny to make you feel like you're doing something wrong as a mother.  During dinner, I found myself scrutinizing every morsel of food he put in his mouth and started getting anxious when he gobbled up the fruit/veggies and left the chicken...I even ended up bargaining with him and saying that if he ate all his chicken he could have a treat (which is food no-no #1!!).   

I need to spend some time in prayer and thought over the next few weeks.  Since my husband and I leave for Hawaii tomorrow (without the kids - hooray!), I'll have some time to do this - in addition to kayaking, hiking, surfing lessons and snorkeling, of course!  :)  Most people when they look at the activities my husband and I plan on our vacations wonder how we can call it a vacation since our schedule is usually chock full.  We're not "lay by the pool and read" kind of folks (although we do have one afternoon on this trip scheduled for that).  Aloha!