OK, so, remember how my child doesn't eat and stuff? Well, I had to take him to the pediatrician today for a weight check. This is what happens when your child doesn't gain weight and the doctor gets her knickers in a twist and has to check up on it between regular visits. (Well, to her credit, our doctor was pretty chill about it and just wants to keep an eye on things, but I'm in a bad mood and need to be bitchy about everything).
So, I left work early to get Chickie from daycare to take him to this appointment. Normally, leaving work early is annoying but not a huge deal, but I'm in the middle of some insane deadlines at work and have been working like a dog to get a major project done. It sucks and I'm totally stressed about it. I'm reminding myself that "It's just work," but I love my job, and it's important to me to feel like I'm good at it and feel productive and all that shit.
ANYWAY
Here's a timeline of events.
4:10 p.m. Chickie bursts into tears upon seeing me when I pick him up from daycare. he does this when he's over tired and generally DONE with everything. Hmm. This is going to be a long evening.
4:30 p.m. We arrive on time for our appointment. Chickie promptly starts to yell, "nooooo!" and alternately refuses to be picked up and refuses to be put down.
4:35 p.m. I realize that this child is hungry, and I start feeding him Cheddar bunnies and other assorted baby snacks that perpetually live in my gigantic purse. Have I mentioned that I'm Indian? Indian people love food and feed everyone around them all the time. I chose to ignore the "No food or drink allowed in the waiting room" signs and kept feeding my child. What, are they going to take the f-ing food away from him?? Please.
4:50 p.m. Chickie has grown tired of his snacks but insists on exclaiming, "more! more!" and then throwing the food onto the carpet. When he tries to eat of the food off the carpet, I take it away, and he has a tantrum.
5:00 p.m. Some nice lady who sounds like she smokes 3 packs a day comes into the waiting room. It looks like she's having a job interview because she's alone (who comes to a pedi's office without kids?) and nicely dressed. She takes it upon herself to make faces at Chickie and show him all the toys in the waiting room. I quietly thank God for her presence but also feel like a total asshole because she's more interested in pacifying my child than I am.
5:10 p.m. Chickie goes over to a baby in a stroller and says, "baby!" and starts to try to push the stroller (he loves pushing strollers). I apologize to the mom and take Chickie away from the baby. He promptly goes back over to the baby and tries to push the stroller again. I apologize again and explain that he really likes to push strollers. The mom is clearly NOT amused and gives me that why-can't-you-control-your-child look and says, "You know, she has a bad cold, so you may not want him near her..." OMFG.
5:11 p.m. I go up to the desk and explain that we have been waiting for over 40 minutes and will need to leave soon because it's getting a bit much for my child. Oh, have I mentioned that daylight savings time SUCKS ASS??
5:15 p.m. A very sweet nurse takes us back into a room and rolls her eyes at the uptight mom and says, "What does she expect? This is a pediatrician's office..." THANK YOU.
5:20 p.m. Chickie begins redecorating. Thank goodness for all that paper on the table, because it kept him busy for a solid 15 minutes. For those of you who aren't familiar with toddler standard time, 15 minutes is about 10 hours in adult time. Amazing.
I even got a chance to take pictures:
Err... sorry about your table. And the floor.
5:30 p.m. I call Dan and vent about how f-ing annoying the last hour has been. He was like, "WTF? You should complain to someone!" OK, nice idea; not helpful right now.
5:35 p.m. Our very frazzled and apologetic doctor comes in and the appointment finally begins. I guess she had a difficult situation to deal with around 4 p.m., and everything got backed up after that. It seems like Chickie is *just* hanging in there in terms of weight, and she was like, "Well, he's clearly full of energy," so, that's that. We wait and see how he looks at 18 months.
By the time we got home, it was nearly 6. Guess how much dinner Chickie ate? About 6 bites.
4 comments:
What a day! Man! Tough afternoon, but interesting post, and you even had the foresight to take pictures! I can't believe that wait though! It is hard enough to wait for your own doctor that long, let alone with/for an active toddler. And I love how the staff "solves" your waiting problem by moving you from the waiting room into the examining room to wait.
If they make you wait that long, they should forgo the no food policy, and in fact, serve a snack themselves to all the waiting children!
That sounds so exhausting and frustrating...I can definitely relate! Now you have the 18 month appointment to look forward to...ugh! Well, at least he is doing okay with his weight. That is GOOD news!
yeah, they should definitely give out snacks to hungry moms and toddlers! believe or not, i was actually relieved to get moved out of the waiting room; at least Chickie wasn't terrorizing anyone anymore, and the change of scenery (i.e. table paper) served as a good distraction.
but yes, his weight is barely OK, so that's the good news :)
LOL - my DH made a paper airplane out of the paper on the table on Thursday :) I didn't even THINK about letting M go to it!
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