Precocious Puberty, Return of Fun Friday

For those of you that belong to my Blogging For Fun group, be sure to check your email for tomorrow's topic. If you would like to be a part of our Blogging For Fun group, click on the green sign up box, on the left hand side of this page. Don't forget about my Feed the Hungry Drive, donate 5 dollars, get free advertising for six months, and win a free jewelry. All that info is also in the left hand column of this blog. So far I have raised 18 dollars, 100 is my goal.

Yesterday I blogged about DJ needing a hand Xray. This year when he went for his 9 yr old check up, the Dr mentioned some hair growth in the pubic area. Now I knew this was there, because he had asked me what it was, some six months ago. I did not think much of it, because it was like two little pieces of hair, and no other signs of over maturation. Due to the fact he was still 8, she was concerned with Precocious Puberty. What is Precocious Puberty? In the most basic of terms, it is when boys, or girls start puberty earlier than what is considered average. Usually before age 9 in boys, and age 8 in girls. The biggest concern is that they will be shorter, than their peers who start at a later date. Now I must say I am not really concerned about this. I am five feet tall, my uncles are all consdired shorter, and they all lead normal lives, with wives, and girlfriends, but DJ adamantly said, I don't want to be short, LOL. So the first step was to make sure all his sexual, and growth hormones were normal. They were, with none of them being out of whack. I would have stopped right there, seeing no reason to pursue, but monitor his progression. The pediatrician insisted we do an Xray for bone age. An Xray for bone age, in kids, is done in the wrist. There are growth plates there that stretch as they age, eventually disappearing. Each year of a child's life the growth plates should look a particular way, so you see how they determine the bone age. I do not have the results yet, but if it is normal, hopefully it will put this issue to rest. He is a big boy, almost 5 feet tall, and 75 pounds. However, he only fell in the 50th percentile, meaning out of 100 boys only 50 would be taller than him, and 50 shorter. By no means do I consider this to be alarming. The pediatrician did say even if the bone age was normal, she might send us to a Endocrinologist. I do not think I will be doing that. I see no reason for it, and it just makes the insurance co spend out money it does not need to. So I await the results, to see what they show. So if you notice, your child possibly having symptoms of early puberty, you may want to get them checked.

Tomorrow is test day, so I have no lesson plans to post. Caitlin does not get tested, and she will be playing a cutting, and color game. She has to color some leaves, then pick the proper color, that I call out, and glue it to the tree trunk. She will also be doing phonics. Other wise she can play, and have fun.