The caregiver of a child with a history of ear infections calls the nurse and reports that her son has just told her his urine “looks funny.” He also has a headache, and his mother reports that his eyes are puffy. Although he had a fever 2 days ago, his temperature is now down to 100 °F (37.8 °C). The nurse encourages the mother to have the child seen by the care provider because the nurse suspects the child may have:

Choice A reason: Infancy is marked by rapid physical and skill development, with milestones like crawling and babbling occurring quickly. This aligns with pediatric developmental assessments, making it the correct characteristic for the nurse to monitor, ensuring infants meet critical growth benchmarks during routine evaluations.

Choice B reason: Insisting on independence with dependence reversion is typical of toddlers, not infants, who lack such autonomy. Rapid skill growth defines infancy, making this incorrect, as it describes a later developmental stage rather than the nurse’s focus for infant growth and development assessments.

Choice C reason: Rapid information intake and questioning “why” and “how” characterize preschoolers, not infants, who lack verbal curiosity. Rapid skill development is the infant focus, making this incorrect, as it applies to older children rather than the nurse’s assessment of infant developmental characteristics.

Choice D reason: Increased attention span is seen in older children, not infants, who have short attention spans. Rapid growth and skill acquisition define infancy, making this incorrect, as it does not reflect the developmental characteristics the nurse should assess in infants during pediatric evaluations.

Choice A reason: As children grow, their nervous system matures, improving gross (e.g., walking) and fine (e.g., writing) motor skills through myelination and neural connections. This aligns with pediatric neurology development milestones, making it the most correct statement about the child’s nervous system and motor skill progression.

Choice B reason: The nervous system is not fully developed at birth; it matures through childhood with ongoing myelination and synaptic growth. Motor skill development reflects this, making this incorrect compared to the accurate depiction of progressive skill improvement in children as the nervous system matures.

Choice C reason: Children develop gross motor skills (e.g., crawling) before fine motor skills (e.g., grasping), not the reverse. Both skills improve with growth, making this incorrect, as it misrepresents the developmental sequence of motor skill acquisition in the child’s nervous system development.

Choice D reason: Fine motor skills are less developed than gross motor skills in early childhood, but both improve with growth. Stating gross skills are well-developed oversimplifies, making this incorrect compared to the comprehensive statement about both skills increasing with nervous system maturation in children.