You may speak now......
Posted by Kevin......
Our son had his 24 month well baby check today. While Stace and I got ready to go to the doctor's office, Henry strolled throughout our home continuously enlightening us with his profound musings on life and love and all the things that are (or should be) most important in our lives.
"Tractors! Vroom vroom! Tractors big. Cars.....cars small. No way! More cookie Daddy please. More cookie! Moooooore cookie? Yes? Ah-ha."
I tried to explain to our beautiful persistent boy that to have more cookie means that you already had some cookies in the recent past. And seeing how this was 8:00am and I'm not so bad a father as to feed my child cookies for breakfast and since a cookie to a toddler are like a gin and tonic to a 40 year old, I told him he would have to wait at least until after 11:00am.
"Henry, say 'Hello doctor'" I said. I was coaching him for our visit, knowing that this exam was not just about Henry's current physical health but also an opportunity for "them" to gauge his development as a person and of course our fitness to even be his parents.
Sadly, most parents worry too much about whether their child is lagging behind in developmental milestones. However, keep in mind that there is a developmental "sweet spot" where your child should be at this critical juncture. If, for example, your child is ahead of these milestones and is close to mastering Bach's cello suite, then he will immediately be whisked away from you (Social workers! God love 'em.) and relocated to foster parents in Switzerland.
"Helloooooo tractor" said Henry. He then pointed to the John Deere tractor in his toy box.
"Good boy." I said.
At the office, the doc really was more interested in physiology as it turned out. He was glad to hear Henry jabbering on about the lights and his blue shoes and stickers with characters from the movie "Cars". But he could see from the smiles and laughs that this was a happy and healthy little boy. Until......
"Looks like he needs his second H1N1 shot. An his next Hep shot. Also, how do you feel about a blood test for lead?" But, you see, I told Henry he would not be getting any shots today.
Henry looked me square in the eye as I held him by the shoulders and reclined him back onto the exam room's table. The nurse pulled down his pants and held his legs. "Daddy! NO!"
Then he began to cry.......for about 45 seconds.
When it was over, he seemed more frustrated about having his pants pulled down than anything. I wanted to tell him that when he gets to be my age, he should just wear warm-up pants with side zippers to the doctor's office like I do, because it's always "That will be a $20 co-pay and TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF!"
The blood test for lead was a prick on the finger, and to everyone's surprise Henry watch the whole thing in silence. Not so much as a peep! The nurse didn't seem to be helping with her comment, "Do you know your colors Henry? That's red. See? Red here. And more red here. See?" I think I blacked out around this time.
Henry got a Band-aid and smiled. "Boo boo box." This is what he calls our first aid kit at home. Any time he does something that might hurt himself, we say "If you get hurt, what will happen?" and he yells "BOO BOO BOX!!"
After the doctor visit, he was rewarded with blueberry juice and a scone from Goodbye Blue Monday, then a brief visit with his friends Erica (3 yrs.) and Julia (4yrs.) to see their new baby sister. "Baby girl!" he said as we introduced him to Maya.
Our son had his 24 month well baby check today. While Stace and I got ready to go to the doctor's office, Henry strolled throughout our home continuously enlightening us with his profound musings on life and love and all the things that are (or should be) most important in our lives.
"Tractors! Vroom vroom! Tractors big. Cars.....cars small. No way! More cookie Daddy please. More cookie! Moooooore cookie? Yes? Ah-ha."
I tried to explain to our beautiful persistent boy that to have more cookie means that you already had some cookies in the recent past. And seeing how this was 8:00am and I'm not so bad a father as to feed my child cookies for breakfast and since a cookie to a toddler are like a gin and tonic to a 40 year old, I told him he would have to wait at least until after 11:00am.
"Henry, say 'Hello doctor'" I said. I was coaching him for our visit, knowing that this exam was not just about Henry's current physical health but also an opportunity for "them" to gauge his development as a person and of course our fitness to even be his parents.
Sadly, most parents worry too much about whether their child is lagging behind in developmental milestones. However, keep in mind that there is a developmental "sweet spot" where your child should be at this critical juncture. If, for example, your child is ahead of these milestones and is close to mastering Bach's cello suite, then he will immediately be whisked away from you (Social workers! God love 'em.) and relocated to foster parents in Switzerland.
"Helloooooo tractor" said Henry. He then pointed to the John Deere tractor in his toy box.
"Good boy." I said.
At the office, the doc really was more interested in physiology as it turned out. He was glad to hear Henry jabbering on about the lights and his blue shoes and stickers with characters from the movie "Cars". But he could see from the smiles and laughs that this was a happy and healthy little boy. Until......
"Looks like he needs his second H1N1 shot. An his next Hep shot. Also, how do you feel about a blood test for lead?" But, you see, I told Henry he would not be getting any shots today.
Henry looked me square in the eye as I held him by the shoulders and reclined him back onto the exam room's table. The nurse pulled down his pants and held his legs. "Daddy! NO!"
Then he began to cry.......for about 45 seconds.
When it was over, he seemed more frustrated about having his pants pulled down than anything. I wanted to tell him that when he gets to be my age, he should just wear warm-up pants with side zippers to the doctor's office like I do, because it's always "That will be a $20 co-pay and TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF!"
The blood test for lead was a prick on the finger, and to everyone's surprise Henry watch the whole thing in silence. Not so much as a peep! The nurse didn't seem to be helping with her comment, "Do you know your colors Henry? That's red. See? Red here. And more red here. See?" I think I blacked out around this time.
Henry got a Band-aid and smiled. "Boo boo box." This is what he calls our first aid kit at home. Any time he does something that might hurt himself, we say "If you get hurt, what will happen?" and he yells "BOO BOO BOX!!"
After the doctor visit, he was rewarded with blueberry juice and a scone from Goodbye Blue Monday, then a brief visit with his friends Erica (3 yrs.) and Julia (4yrs.) to see their new baby sister. "Baby girl!" he said as we introduced him to Maya.
posted by Kevin and Stace @ 9:29 PM
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