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This post is from July 2, 2008. I wrote it back then, but didn’t get around to posting it… so here it is…

Maddie had her 3yr wellness checkup today. She was very excited to go and was telling me all morning that she wanted to get a band aid while she was there. I am sure that could be arranged!

So it came time to go to the doctors and she was so excited that she tripped and fell about 3 inches from the front door to the office. There we were outside, she was crying, her knee was bleeding, and I was trying not to laugh. I felt bad for her and wiped up the little speck of blood that was there. It was very ironic. She recovers and we go inside and she is immediately distracted with toys.

Then we go back and start with the eye exam. They do this at every wellness checkup until they are 4. They put three sticker probes on their head and a patch over their eye and make them watch a TV screen. It checks for lazy eye. Maddie didn’t pass which was strange since she has passed all the other times. We did notice that she kept looking away during part of the test… maybe she was too bored with it because it wasn’t a Dora cartoon… it is more like watching the static snow on a TV screen only it changes a little bit here and there.

Then we went to get weighed and measured and have our blood pressure taken. So far, she has barely made a peep. She just keeps asking, “What are we going to do next?” She came in at 28 pounds (12%) and 35.25 inches (13%). Still a little peanut, but on the charts! When the nurse put the blood pressure cuff on her arm, she told Maddie that it would give her a little hug. Maddie thought that was pretty funny.

We went back to the exam room and the nurse came into see us. She wanted a urine sample! Are you kidding me? She said it is routine once they are potty trained. This aught to be interesting. So we go in the bathroom and fortunately they post instructions on how to do this. I know how to do my own, just not anybody else’s! Maddie was really excited over the idea of peeing in a cup! I sit her on the toilet backwards (so she is facing the tank and spread eagle) then ask her to start peeing a bit. Then I make her stop (which she did) so I can stick the cup in the stream. She starts peeing again but it was coming out so fast I had to say, “Stop stop stop!” because the cup was about to overflow! Then I take the cup away and she finishes up! Holy smokes! This girl can hold her pee in like there is no tomorrow. She is obviously really good at stopping midway through. I had to dump some of the pee out because there was just so much in there. She was so excited!

Then we went back into the room to wait a bit. Oh… and she had gotten some stickers from doing the eye exam and proceeded to put them on her body. Mind you she is just in her undies at this point (which is her favorite way to be). That is how she was walking around the doctors since they do the weight and height in another room. So cute.

So then the doc comes in and tells me she is perplexed that Maddie didn’t pass the eye exam. She was going to refer me to an eye doctor but decided to have her repeat the eye test just to make sure since Maddie was looking away at times during the test.

The doc proceeds with the routine exam (not the eye exam since that is done in a different room) and everything comes out fine. I asked about the scabby stuff on her knees and elbows and she thinks it is a mild form of eczema and recommended hydrocortisone cream. She said it is going to take a long time for the discoloration to go away. She asked if psoriasis runs in the family which I didn’t think it did. I forgot to ask how often to put the cream on, but I will just do it a few times a day at this point. And she said to keep sunscreen on those parts too… I am guessing so it doesn’t scar. Great… it probably already has!

Then we go back to do the eye test again. Maddie was excited because it meant she got to watch the cartoon again. Really… it is like watching snow on TV with a quick flash of an animal at times. This time she got to wear a pirate patch over one eye instead of just a cotton patch. Arg! How exciting since this week she wants to be a pirate for Halloween… with a hook hand… and no hat on her head. And, she passed the test this time. Yeah!

Back to the room we go waiting for our shot! Yippee! Maddie held my hand while the nurse gave her a shot in the leg. She cried at first but then stopped when she saw the pink snoopy band aid go on! She couldn’t give Maddie a shot in her right leg because there was a giant sticker there! Then the nurse walked out of the room and Maddie broke down. There were huge crocodile tears streaming down her face. I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Then she took a breath and said, “It hurts! It hurts!” I asked her what hurt, and she pointed to her knee… the one that had the speck of blood on it from falling outside the doctor’s office. I almost started laughing again. She told me she wanted a band aid for her knee, but the nurse had already left the room. She was so sad that the nurse put the band aid where she got the shot and not on her knee. She started to take the band aid off and I asked her if she wanted me to put it on her knee. Then she saw the blood under the band aid (from where she got the shot) and didn’t know what to do. So we put the band aid back over her shot and I told her that if we saw the nurse again she could ask her for another band aid. It took about 5 minutes to calm her down. I didn’t realize she had her heart set on getting a band aid for her knee. I just thought she wanted one in general… which she got… for her shot! She even had little circle princess stickers (from the second eye exam) and I asked her if we should put that on her knee. Nope. Oh well.

At this point it was about 2:00 and she normally goes down for her nap around 1:30. So we go to the car and her thumb went in her mouth and she clutched her blanket.

Oh… and the most traumatic part (for me and soon to be for her) is the doctor could tell she is a thumb sucker. We have a dentist appointment next week and the doc is guessing that the dentist will try to have us wean her from her thumb. She is growing up. But it was so cute to see her in the car with her thumb in her mouth and holding her blanket. So cute… I don’t want to give that up. But her teeth are a bit crooked from where they rub her thumb, so I am sure it is time. Did I mention I am sad! I mentioned something to her in the car (while she was sucking her thumb) that we won’t be able to suck our thumb for very much longer because it is hurting our teeth. She took her thumb out of her mouth and started crying again. I told her she could suck her thumb now, but not very much longer. The crying immediately stopped and the thumb went back in. It will be a sad day for both of us when we start that weening.

And now she is sleeping.