Day 21: 2 Year Check Up

Do you know what I don't like about the 2 year check up? Two year olds are too smart to go down without a fight because their memories are now better than a gold fish. Jack was especially bad because he just got flu shots in December and January, and since then he has watched Alivia get shots. This boy is no dummy, shots suck.

Jack started falling apart in the waiting room when a tantrum began about a book. Once back in the room the nurse asked me to undress him, and that in combination with seeing the dreaded table sent this little guy reeling into a full out panic. The nurse's attempt to measure his head caused him to up his panicked cries for help into ear piercing screams. You would have thought someone had shot him or a dear family member by the way he started hyperventilating as I took his diaper off to weigh him.

Once the nurse finished her check up and left the room I was able to distract him and calm him down. I took this opportunity to share the wonderful bit of news with him that the nurse was able to convey to me between screams: no shots today, we're up to date on immunizations. This really soothed that little guys nerves. Then our WONDERFUL pediatrician came in, and I had Jack all prepped. I told him that a nice grandma was going to come in and listen to his heart and check his eyes, ears, mouth, and other areas. She is so amazing with little kids, she really should work with them for a living :). She had Jack as calm as a lamb sitting in a warm meadow on a spring morning. That and she let him play with all her little tools and gadgets, so this little guy was in heaven.

In the end we learned that Jack is ahead of the curve in terms of motor skills and communication. The nurse must have spread rumors about Jack's behavior because Dr. Child's came in ready and armed for a fight, but also full of advice for me about strong willed children, which was not the side of Jack's multiple personalities that she saw. I got potty training tips (which I was more than happy to get because Jack is a whole different league than Lucy was), pacifier advice (which I was relieved to hear that she was glad we didn't try to take it away before Alivia was born, for the sake of a smoother adjustment), and all sorts of encouragement. I just love my pediatritian.

While today's outing was the smoothest we have had yet (probably because it was the shortest), it was still just stressful enough that I totally forgot Jack's stats sheet. This makes me so sad because getting percentiles is my favorite thing about check ups. I'm thinking I'll call in tomorrow to see if I can get them, I have to have them for my personal records. And I didn't even look at the sheet, I just set it down when I got it and then left it, so I can't even go off memory.

Other then the checkup, another thing worth noting is that Jack played his first game of catch with Alivia today. Unfortunately she isn't too good at catching soccer balls as big as she is yet, especially when she is peacefully sleeping in her bouncer. Poor baby. I literally had turned my head for 1 second! 1 second! I was sitting right next to Alivia to protect her from the looming Jack and ball, when Lucy asked me to look at something, so I turned to her to see what she was talking about and WHAM!  Jack felt pretty bad as I made it very clear he is never to do that again. Alivia recovered quickly though, and Jack has such a sweet side to him that I felt terrible for scolding him when it was obvious he felt terrible. Now we know.

Oh, one last thing, Jack peed in the potty again tonight, it only took about 1 minute of sitting on the potty before he went, hopefully that is a good sign. I can't read into it too much though because I didn't observe it. I was spending time with some friends for a much needed night out, and Shawn was the one who made this happen. I'm still excited about it, we'll see what we can do, that's 3 successful trips in 3 days. Cross your fingers everyone!