My little girl turned three this month (goodbye terrible twos, hello terrible threes!) and that meant that it was time for another trip to the local health office for a well-child visit. Here in Nagoya, as far as I can tell, it is required to bring your child to the municipal health office for their 3 month, 18 month, and 3 year well-child appointments.
It's generally expected for all people in Japan, children and adults, to get a health check done once a year. My husband had one done recently at his office (most offices and schools hold mandatory health checks once a year for their employees or students). His blood pressure was high and so he was required to take a couple hours off to go to a meeting about how to manage one's blood pressure through a healthy diet and exercise. I've been asked by friends if I've had MY yearly health check done yet (I haven't), but I just tell them I'm not accustomed to going to the doctor unless I'm sick. In America it's just too expensive to visit the doctor unless you have a problem or are at risk for something :P.
Anywho, so I put Taran in his trusty baby carrier, buckled Clara into her bike seat, and off we went. It went fairly smoothly, even though it was 1 pm in the afternoon (Clara's nap time). We biked to the North Ward Office (Basically the branch of City Hall that serves North Nagoya) and took the elevator up to the Public Health Office. The office was full of feisty three year olds and their moms, a couple dads were there too, and since it was, as I said, prime nap time, not all the children were happy to be there. We got a number, and then I handed over the paperwork I had received in the mail a couple weeks ago. It was all in Japanese, but I got the gist of it, and was able to fill out the health surveys with only a little help from my husband (he's way better at Japanese than me, but I'm getting better :P). I then got a cup for Clara to pee in. I was surprised that they expected three year olds to pee in a cup, and was even more surprised at the number of moms who came out of the bathroom with those little cups full. As for me, I couldn't even get Clara into the bathroom stall, let alone get her to pee in that cup... But the staff said it was okay if I couldn't get a sample. They said if I wanted a sample done (I don't), I could get her to pee in a cup at home and bring it in at a later date (no thanks..). Once that was done we waited for our turn in the waiting area. It was a pretty big room so Clara was able to run around a bit with the other kids, so waiting wasn't so bad.
First up was the dentist. Clara screamed while he looked in her mouth, but he said that her teeth looked fine and she was free (I was a little worried about her teeth because even though she brushes everyday she doesn't let me help her, but it turns out they were ok, phew!). I had the option of getting a flouride treatment done but I had forgotten to bring the payment with me (it was about 800 yen), so we had to skip it for now (I can always take her in at a later date for that if I want). Up next was the developmental specialist. She showed Clara some books and pictures, asked for her name (which she did in English when I told her we only speak English at home), to which Clara replied, "No!" (typical three year old...) and then asked her age, also met with an emphatic "No!". The specialist just chuckled and when I said it was her nap time she said she understood, and asked if she knows her name and age and can say it at home (she can). She said everything seemed fine and we were off again, this time to the examination room. They asked me to strip her down to her underwear, which made Clara think it was bath time (unfortunately, no...) and once she saw the doctor she recognized that he was a doctor and started bawling. He checked her heart, looked in her mouth while she screamed, and then said she looked fine and told her bye bye. Once she heard bye bye she knew it was over and happily said bye bye through her little tears, and then we were off to our final destination, the nutritionist. By the way, all of these professionals were in the same area, but in separate rooms. The nutritionist asked me if she regularly gets protein and calcium in her diet (she does) and noted that I had written on her survey her reluctance to eat vegetables. She said that it was normal at that age for kids to be a bit picky but encouraged me to try harder to incorporate veggies into her food. Nothing like a health check to make one feel like a bad parent, eh?
After all was said and done I took Clara for an ice cream cone which she happily and sleepily ate (she seriously almost nodded off mid lick. It was funny to watch).
So that's what a health check is like for a three year old. Clara did well, I thought, aside from a couple short screaming episodes, but they were over quickly, and the staff seemed pretty used to it.
Clara is getting to be such a big girl now, and next month she's starting preschool! I'm going to write about that in my next post. Until then!
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