When you have 5 kids, you spend a LOT of time at the pediatrician. CamCam is a smart little boy now, and he’s very well aware of what goes on at the doctor’s office. Every time he hears we’re going to a doctor appointment he asks me, “Who doctar for ma? Who’s turn?”
He doesn’t care which sibling the appointment is for, just as long as it isn’t for him. Numerous times on our drive to the doctor he’ll bring it up. “Day-don’s turn doctar ma? Not me? For Day-don?”
Once we get called in by the nurse, he always lets her know who we’re here for: “It’s Nolie’s turn doctar. Not me. Not me, Nolie’s turn.”
It doesn’t stop there, he need to make sure the doctor knows who this appointment is for as well. “La-La’s turn doctar. Not me, not my turn. It’s La-La’s turn.”
Which is why I was dreading today. Because today, it was CamCam’s turn. This morning, I hesitantly brought it up. I told him we had to go to the doctors today. He immediately asked who it was for. I told him that the doctor wanted to see how big he was now that he was 3.
“I’m bigger, bigger, bigger, like this!” he said, standing up taller and taller in his chair. I breathed a little sigh of relief, he seemed ok with this after all.
But once we were actually called into the appointment, CamCam changed his mind. He walked very slowly away from the toy area, thought a bit, and then ran up to the nurse and said, “Actually, no, it’s not me. It’s not my turn.” We convinced him that it would be fun to stand on the scale and see how big he was. He went along with it, but you could tell he was watching us. Next we went for the eye check, but CamCam refused to say what any of the pictures were. He just sucked his thumb the whole time, and gave the nurse a look that said- “I’m onto you. You try to pretend you’re all fun with this little game of yours, but I know better. I’ve seen what you can do, and I’m not buying this fun-and-games routine. I’m not playing along!”
Next she attempted to take his blood pressure. You’d have thought she wanted to rip his arm off, he flipped out so. He just screamed, cried, and clung to me for dear-life until the nurse left the room.
He warmed up to the doctor. The doctor, though, gets to come in and be fun and friendly. At our practice, the doctor NEVER gives out shots. He (or she) is the “Good Guy.” CamCam loved showing off, hopping on one leg, jumping around. He was in such a good mood he didn’t notice that the doctor had left and yet we were still in the room.
I had PROMISED CamCam that there wouldn’t be any boo-boo’s for him, that we were just going to see how big he was. But I had completely forgotten that CamCam was 2 shots behind. The pediatrician had run short on 2 vaccines, and so he wasn’t able to get them at his 18 month checkup.
Today was the day.
I felt so bad for him, he was so upset, he acted like I betrayed him. It’s one thing to hold down your baby to get shots, and then they forget the minute you pick them up. It’s quite another thing to hold down your toddler who doesn’t forget the minute you pick them up. Nope, he cried at me the whole way out, “I said no doctar, you said no hurt me!”
I felt so bad. Poor little guy. He actually limped as he walked, and held the spot where his shots had been given, so I ended up carrying him. That’s the LAST thing little kids heading to their appointment needed to see.
And then we were driving off, and all was well with CamCam again. As we pulled out of the parking lot he says, “That made me cry!”
Momma too, little man. Momma too.
