Pediatrician visit!

Today Kalina had her 18-month appointment. In a somewhat futile attempt to prepare her, I adopted Lamby as my patient this morning and examined her eyes, ears and heart (which, in case you didn't know, goes "thump-thump, thump-thump" quite hilariously, to Kalina, anyway). I've read this can help ease anxieties.

And so it was with a somewhat hopeful spirit that we all, Lamby included, headed into the office and faced the receptionist. Who finished her long, drawn-out phone call about nothing important before checking us in. However, we quickly forgave her the wait since she was in a good mood--she's much easier to work with that way. We whiled away the few minutes in the waiting room by watching the fish and reading a boring book.

Remembering the weighing incident from last time, I decided to have Kalina walk back rather than carry her. If I could keep her unattached from me until it was time to plop her onto the scale, I thought it might go better (nothing's worse than having a nurse pry her off). No such luck. Although Kalina was completely cool with the waiting room, she recognized the hallway of terror that lead the the exam rooms of horror, and dug her little heels in. I scooped her up and carried her through the rest of the appointment.

Poor Kalina probably could sense my tenseness with the nurse, who is most likely excellent friends with the receptionist, as she interrogated me about Kalina's first H1N1 vaccine, which she got, as you may remember, at a free clinic thing at one of two armories in Durham. Apparently miffed that we hadn't wrangled an official appointment for a nonexistant vaccine back in November, or even a nonexistant appointment for an official vaccine in December (when the pediatrician's office wasn't making any appointments because they were too busy), she informed us that "I don't know about any so-called free vaccinations." Okay, I guess I just made it up. I sulked into the exam room and was glad to be alone with my sweet girl and her toy lamb as the nurse shut the door.

As we waited for the weighing, I decided it'd be a good idea if we "weighed" Lamby. I didn't have a scale in the room so we used the exam table instead. However, Kalina's giggles soon turned into shrieks as I plunked her onto the actual scale. Fortunately, we got a good reading before she got up the nerve to make a lunge for it. How long until she can be weighed on a stand-up scale? She's 22 pounds 14 ounces, by the way--solidly in the 25th percentile.

The doctor was with us at this point, and we had a nice little chat about Kalina's development while she clung to me like I was driftwood and her ship had sunk. After a good 10 minutes she managed a little smile, but that soon disappeared as the exam begun. No amount of preparation could've prepared her for it, but fortunately, her eyes, ears, mouth (easy enough) and heart were duly checked before a minute was up. The pediatrician commented on her strong heartbeat. No surprise there, as the child was pretty worked up.

Then more suffering ensued as the doctor stretched her out on the table to get her height/light her on fire. She's 33 3/4 inches, and now in the 85th percentile for height. Her head circumference remains average.

We discussed parenting because I didn't really have many big questions. He assured me that the best thing for Kalina right now is lots of unstructured play, unless we want to get her into a competitive private preschool or kindergarten, some of which test on skills, in which case we should begin alphabet drills immediately so Kalina doesn't fall behind (or so our culture would have us believe). We don't. He agreed wholeheartedly.

And then the doctor left and shortly the nurse came back in for the vaccinations, of which there were three. We were all more relaxed than we had been previously, and Kalina was intrigued by the idea of a "sticker" with bunnies on it that she would be receiving on her upper arm. I chatted nicely with the nurse to keep the mood light, and Kalina was practically smiling right up to the time her arm was swabbed.

Poor Kalina. She was thoroughly exhausted by the end. On the way out we played in the drinking fountain a bit to cheer her up.

On the plus side, Kalina will now only need an annual flu shot until kindergarten! She will, however, likely have to get weighed at her next visit. Can she at least have a band-aid for that?

Photo: This was taken a while ago (November?) but I haven't had a chance to post it until now, and it's cute. Feeding the geese/ducks.