Baby Steps

Teshale doing "grumpy." This is nothing compared to furious.

Eleven months ago, we made our first visit to the pediatrician with T, two days after arriving home. He was three days into his winter jacket boycott at the time, so we just carried it with us wherever we went.

He was so angry after being poked and prodded during that exam -- even having the doctor listen to his heart and breathing with her stethescope brought blood curdling screams heard 'round the office. When it was all over and done with, and he'd gotten his first four vaccines, he was so furious that as soon as we put his socks and shirt back on, he tore them off and threw them on the floor in the middle of the room.

We'd already learned not to do clothing wars with him, after the first round in the "I will not wear a winter jacket" battle, so Sean calmly picked up our sockless, bootless, shirtless, coatless, hatless, mittenless boy and carried him to the car on a sub-20 degree snowy day. We placed a fleece blanket over him in the car, which he promptly flung off. I was certain in those days that someone was going to call CPS on us.

Today we brought T to the doctor, on a day quite similar to his first visit -- 17 degrees and snowing. He had to have a nasal swab taken, which means the doctor inserts a swab into the nostril until she reaches the back of the throat -- and it has to be done in both nostrils. She told us it's one the procedures she most dreads having to perform. T wasn't at all happy about it -- and it took both Sean and me to hold him down for the second nostril. No one was holding his feet and I'm shocked actually that the doctor didn't get a kick, but if she did, she didn't complain.

My little boy was so mad that he stood there drooling gobs of drool off his bottom lip. We used to see that a lot. I can't remember the last time I saw it. "I don't like that!" he exclaimed. "That hurt." He was too mad to even want his lollipop. I opened it for him and encouraged it into his mouth, finally getting him to accept it. Much better than the time he pitched it from his car seat to the front window of the car, shattering it and sending pieces down into the ventilation system. Yum, grape smelling heat for weeks!

But here is what made me grin from ear to ear while still in the doctor's office and want to shout out to the world. T is still afraid of doctor appointments, and especially after today with good reason, and is not exactly Mr. Cooperative. Even getting him to stand on the scale is an exercise in negotiation skills worthy of Camp David. But when it was all over and done with, and he was working on his lollipop, we put his shirt on, and then his Spiderman jacket, and then his winter jacket, and then his boots, and finally his hat. All without protest. Nothing was torn off and flung to the floor. He ran down the hall on his own two feet and skipped out to the car. We drove home with him wearing all his clothes!

Times like this make me want to break out into the Hallelujah Chorus. We still have a road ahead of us, but look what we did, Ma! We got dressed after getting really angry during a painful procedure in the doctor's office! It may be baby steps, but it is progress! Hallelujah!