The Best Patient

Well, as promised, here are Tad’s stats, fresh from the doctor’s office:

weight: 23 lbs., 10 oz. (40th percentile)
height: 32 and 3/4 inches (90th percentile)
shots: 4 (2 in each arm)

He is one healthy monkey, tall and lean and showed absolutely no fear of our pediatrician (maybe he thought he was family? Our pediatrician is Japanese-American and could pass for one of my Dad’s cousins), and only cried when the second 2 shots went into his right arm. He didn’t cry for the first two shots in his left, but I think he thought it was over. Then they put the next two in his other arm, and that’s when a few indignant cries escaped, but not many tears. He calmed down quickly.

The weird one was the Munchkin. She went along with us this morning, and was quite put out that she wasn’t going to be “checked up”, in her words. We’ve read quite a bit of Corduroy Goes To The Doctor, which I totally recommend for any child over 2 who is going to be seeing the doctor. It’s just a cute and simple board book that walks a child through a typical check-up, including getting a shot.

The Munchkin was quite annoyed that she wasn’t going to get her ears or eyes checked, and was most upset that she wouldn’t be getting a shot. Yes, I know she’s weird. I told the consulting nurse this, and her reply was, “Has she had a flu shot yet? If you want her to get one, I’ll just go grab her chart.”

Since the flu shot was on Tad’s roster as well, I immediately agreed. The Munchkin was thrilled.

After the doctor came in and pronounced Tad perfectly healthy, and told me that unless I had specific concerns, we could just skip the 18 month check-up and he’d see us when Tad is two – hurray! – a nurse came in to give the shots. She was younger than me, and had a weary air of “I’m here to make your kid cry, so let’s just get it over with” about her.

I had the Munchkin go first, since she was dying to do something at this doctor’s appointment. She did not flinch as the needle went in, and she watched the whole thing. The nurse put a sparkly silver band-aid on (which the Munchkin thought was the coolest thing she’d ever seen), and the Munchkin jumped down. “Thank you! Thank you very much!” she said brightly to the nurse.

I think the poor woman’s jaw fell off her face. I began to laugh. “Who ever heard of a kid who thanked someone for a shot?” I said.

“Umm, never,” she replied in shock. Tad’s behavior also impressed her. “Wow, you have some strong kids there,” she told me. (Matthew, eat your heart out.)

After we finished up at the pediatrician’s, we went to the post office to mail a couple of packages, and then went through the drive-thru at Wendy’s for lunch. Tad crashed in the drive-thru, so he got his treat later. The Munchkin got a Junior Frosty with lunch, which was chicken nuggets and fries. She kept her silver band-aid on all day, and proudly showed her Daddy when he came home that night. We finally took it off at bedtime.

Yes, the Munchkin is weird. You should all be so lucky to have a weirdo like mine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 1:04 am and is filed under Children.
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