The Terror of the Examination Room

Peter had a doctor's visit this morning. He was the first of the day for the doctor. We walked in and he started remembering the place. At first he was quiet and still, perhaps hoping it was just a visit to the front desk and nothing more. He even saw the nurse out there and kept his cool. But, being the first patient of the day, there was no wait so the nurse said we could go back to the examination room.


The trip to the examination room brought something out of Peter that had been missing for what seems like quite a while: The Lip. The Lip was quickly followed by a wail of fear that was sirenlike. Peter has a good memory, but honestly his previous visits to the doctor have never resulted in any pain to him. Perhaps he has ESP. Anyhow, he has identified Tamara - the nurse - as his enemy. Which is too bad since she's actually very nice, but he doesn't take his eyes off her when she's in the room, and points at her and cries. It's hard to watch him be terrified like that, but it's funny in retrospect (sorry, buddy). Tamara said she'd used to it, kids normally learn to hate her until they're at least 3 years old. But he gets his head measured and screams; he gets measured and screams; he gets weighed and screams. Actual pain experienced: None.

His doctor came in and checked him out, all while Peter contorted and cried. Again, nothing that would actually hurt.

Tamara came back to give him his first shot. Getting him ready for it? Hell. Afterwards? Like he didn't feel a thing. All day, actually. We were told he'd have a sore arm. Nothing. It's like it never happened...

Anyway, for anyone keeping score at home, he wound up in the 50th percentile for height and weight, and 75th in head size (big brain). We thought he'd be higher up in height, but considering that he gets measured while lying down, and that he simply won't lie down unless he's sleeping, we're not sure if he was really stretched out fully. So let's just say he's in the 55th percentile for height, ok?

Another thing we've found out is that Peter has figured out how to turn the power off the comput

Catching up...

I notice I haven't posted anything since the end of July. We've been busy, but there are some Peter tidbits to report.

He's 15 ½ months old now, and like a teenager he gets moody. We think it has to do with growth spurts and teething, but he gets cranky a lot more easily now. It might also be that his energy levels are adjusting to a one-nap-a-day cycle.

He went to his cousin Ethan's 5th birthday party in Madison over the weekend and ran around and played most of the day Saturday. He also partied at Irishfest Friday night. Sunday saw a lot of activity, too. All of that added up into an epic crash Sunday night around 7:00-ish. We had to change hs diaper at about 9:30 that night, and boy was he not thrilled about that. It's bad enough that he rarely lies down for a diaper changing, but add in being extremely tired and irritable and you have a diaper changing that probably annoyed the whole neighborhood.

He's also gotten back into screeching again. Repeatedly. I think the pitch of his voice might be lowering a little, but the shriek is still piercing. Especially in the car.

Peter has a doctor's visit this Saturday morning. We're very curious to find out what his measurements are and the percentiles, too. I'm betting his height and head size will be high on the scale, and his weight trailing behind. While he feels heavy when we haul him around, he's lean, so I'm thinking there are shorter, pudgier kids who probably weigh more. But he's tall with long limbs, and he's grown out of his shoes and hats, so he's pretty much getting bigger by the day.

We also know he's smart. First he figured out how to wiggle out of the arm straps of his car seat, and after we tightened them so he couldn't do that any more he just figured out how to undo the buckle that held them together.

We also took him to the State Fair a couple weeks ago. He got excited to see the livestock, but it was the chickens and rabbits that really got him pumped up. Probably because he isn't something less that 10% of the size of a chicken or bunny. But there were some chickens with funky feathers, so he probably found them more engaging than a heifer chewing on straw.