Pediatrician visit!

Kalina had her 2-year well check today at the doctor. *sniff!* She's growing up!

Breaking the news of a doctor appointment to a 2-year old is the type of thing you draw straws for with your spouse. Since Matt had already drawn the breadwinner straw, though, I am often the one who gets stuck with little tasks like this.

Guided by the advice of one or more parenting resources, I waited until the day of to mention the appointment to Kalina. It went like this:

Me: *deep breath*
Me: Hey Kalina? You know how we talk about getting our work done before we play? Well, this morning our work is to go to the doctor.
Me: *deep breath out*
Kalina: No. No, no, no. No doctor. No.
Me: (slightly relieved at her reaction) And then we'll go to the mall to play!
Kalina: Back home.
Me: Or whatever.
Kalina: Waaahhhhh! (The news must have finally caught up to her)
Me: Mommy will be with you the whole time. The doctor just wants to take a look at you. It'll be quick. He'll listen to your heart (I pretended to listen and made a thumping noise), he'll look in your ears, to make sure there aren't any cats in there (as I pretended to do), and he'll look in your eyes.
Kalina: Mommy play food with Kalina.

And at this point, I knew we were out of the woods, and Kalina had accepted the information as best she could.

Kalina and I tried our hardest to be 15 minutes early to the appointment, as requested, but didn't manage it (truthfully, one of us was trying a bit harder than the other). We split the difference and arrived at 8:22 for an 8:30 appointment. We spent our entire 3 minutes in the waiting room looking at fish in the fish tank and reading the first few pages of a Winnie the Pooh book, and Kalina surprised me by remaining calm.

My surprise turned to dread as Kalina caught sight of the nurse and burst into teary protestations as we were directed to room 4 to prepare for the weighing. She let me keep Kalina's shorts and underwear on, at least, as Kalina couldn't be pried away far enough for me to remove them.

I was annoyed to see they still insisted on weighing her on the baby scale: I think she'd do much better standing up on a big-girl scale. They said that after this visit, she'd graduate, thank goodness. She weighs 25 pounds, 11 ounces.

The doctor was in in a flash. Kalina seemed stoically resigned to her examination--possibly because she didn't have quite the history with him that she does with the nurse. He asked a few questions as he predictably looked into her ears and eyes and listened to her heart. And he checked the hematoma on her shoulder, which has faded quite nicely but is still visible. Then Kalina, a bit sadly, stretched out on the exam table so he could measure her height and check her tummy. Poor girl. I could tell she was terrified and hating it, but she kept a wide-eyed, almost eerie, silence. I was glad to scoop her up into my arms again.

Kalina's weight is beginning to catch up to her height--she's in the 35th percentile for weight, and at 35 1/2 inches, is in the 90th for height. Her head circumference is in the 50th.

Developmentally, Kalina is right where I thought she'd be--very advanced in her language capabilities (the doctor was very impressed that she constructs 8-word sentences), with no worries whatsoever about anything else (she can climb stairs, etc.). And we've crossed the potty training hurdle, which the doctor was also impressed with.

I was pleased to learn that we don't have to take Kalina to the dentist yet, as long as she keeps letting us brush her teeth. Child, if you know what's good for you, keep letting Mommy and Daddy brush your teeth!

I was not pleased to learn that she'd have to have a shot at this visit. One of the vaccinations has been expanded, and Kalina needed immunization to a few extra strains of whatever it was. The girl cried a little, but not nearly as much as at the weighing.

As we were finishing up, I asked the doctor what I should be doing with her in the next year. He urged as little TV as possible--even educational programming is a bit of a misnomer--and mentioned books, possibly some memory games and toys instead. I don't think Kalina would have it any other way.

And then I got to inform the girl that we were all done with the doctor! All done! We hastened out of the room, and selected a cow sticker as we checked out. Then Kalina wanted me to finish the Winnie the Pooh book, and I readily obliged. Apparently, Kalina's fear of the doctor does not extend to the waiting room.

When asked, Kalina admitted to being scared and sad at the doctor. I said I couldn't blame her, but let her know that making it through was something to be proud of. What a trooper!

We headed to the mall after all, and had a lovely time goofing off, our work done for the morning.

Photo: Kalina picking blueberries (and earlier, blackberries) with me last week. We had an awesome time, and even got to feed corn to some chickens. I don't know if more than 1 or 2 of the blueberries Kalina picked ended up in the bucket, but she did at least ask permission before eating the blackberries (there was no stopping her with the blueberries). I left an extra dollar when we paid--which would cover 2/5 of a pound. Hopefully that was enough.