Shawna called me at work today to tell me that during a doctor’s visit, Graem wrote her name clearly and distinctly on a chalkboard in the waiting room! Shawna was in such disbelief, and thought that someone else had done it better that she erased it–only to be astounded again when Graem rewrote her name!
Thank you LeapPad… there is no way I can take credit for this!
Our three-year well visit was yesterday–boy what a difference the exam is than in previous years! Many of the tests were attempted and failed due to toddler non-compliance: a hearing check that involved Grammy saying “Beep!” when she heard the beep, or tapping a stick; a weigh-in on the big girl scale instead of the baby scale (she passed with flying colors, after much coaxing to “stand on the stickers;” a height measurement standing up instead of sprawled on the paper and marking her length (she barely passed this one); peeing in a cup, which she surprisingly passed; a vision/shape? test that she failed due to her answering “I don’t know” to every shape, when she clearly knows them all!
I was a bit annoyed that Dr. C was shocked that Grammy’s 3-month long cold had subsided after the round of Amoxicillin she received for her facial laceration. Isn’t this basic stuff?? Antibiotics kill (some) bacteria??! I suppose it didn’t matter, since we brought Grammy in with a new cold plus puking/diarrhea. Graem received her hepatitis vaccine. I was again annoyed that she was offered this year’s flu vaccine which does contain thimerosal–AND I had to ASK whether it had it! It was not disclosed to us. We also found out that the vaccine she received last year also contained thimerosal, but were advised that it at least has the mercury that your body passes (ethyl mercury)–like that’s supposed to make me feel better.
The good news is that Graem is still off-the-charts for height and weight: she’s 40″ tall and weighs 33.5 lbs., putting her at the 95th and 75th percentiles for her age. She’s also doing great at her letters–I gleamed with pride as she made letters for Dr. C with the two tongue depressors that she was supposed to use for her failed hearing test. She even wrote a perfect, 1/4″ high W this morning at breakfast.
*Sigh* our girl is growing up!
I was at work on Wednesday when Shawna IM’d me that Grammy got her first shiner. She had her first playdate with her friend Dobbs, and they were playing on his indoor slide and ball pit. Shawna and Sybil were upstairs talking, when Dobbs came upstairs and said, “I think Grammy needs you.” Apparently they were taking turns down the slide, and someone didn’t get out of the ball pit before the other one came down.
This accident happened after a minor incident with the balance beam at gymnastics. Graem insists on using the highest balance beam they have–but this time she slipped off and cut her ankle in a couple of places. What was surprising is that she didn’t cry for either the balance beam fall or the black eye.
Last night, not knowing what to do for dinner, we all decided to go for Indian food. I was a bit wary, as Shawna has been puking up anything non-white-bread for the last few weeks. Graem was on her best behavior and was starving–she ate a TON. While she was eating, she kept saying her lip hurt–I just assumed she either bit it or had chapped lips, so I kind of blew her off and told her to drink water and wipe it with a napkin.
Early this morning, she sat up and said, “Mommy, the bed is wet.” Shawna and I were both in disbelief–she already had one accident in the bed this week, and was so ashamed and sad we were sure it wouldn’t happen again. Thankfully, it was just a little pee, and our several layers of protection actually protected us. I took Graem downstairs to wash up and change, and again, she said her lip hurt. There in the bathroom light, in the wee hours of the morning, and despite my lack of glasses, I saw it: her first cold sore. I was totally crushed.
We have a three-year-old with herpes of the lip. I blame myself and Shawna (for there’s no other way) for giving it to her. Whether we kissed her at the wrong time, or because we weren’t as adamant about forbidding the sharing of toothbrushes and Carmex, I feel so absolutely responsible.
I’m pissed, because I never had cold sores until I met Shawna. And I’m pissed because she got them from her mom (or at least, that’s how the story goes). The only thing I’m thankful for is that Graem didn’t get the outbreak that I did from her first exposure: my face was covered with them–I had them in my eyes and my nose!
And now what do I do: warn a three-year-old that those fun, playful kisses with boys at daycare are forbidden when she has an active sore? And that she can’t scratch or touch the blister until it goes away? I shouldn’t be having this conversation with a three-year-old. Do I have to warn daycare that she has a cold sore?
I suppose I’m equally upset that perhaps the doctor was right in diagnosing her 6-week long cold as viral. I’m always confounded that of all the kids in daycare who are told have bacterial infections, my kid is the one that’s viral.
When will we figure out how to kill viruses? I keep thinking about alien DNA replicating in my kid’s body.
I decided to finally paste in all my pre-Wordpress blog posts. Wow, I never realized how much I’d appreciate Wordpress! For your viewing pleasure, we now have posts dating back to the week before Graem was born–with every smile, carseat upgrade, and well-visit checkup now recorded.
Reading through them was interesting–I’ve already forgotten what it was like to drop her off at daycare for the first time, when she got her first tooth, and when she first said, “Mama.” I’d also forgotten how long I was taking her in to work with me, which in retrospect, I greatly appreciate having had the opportunity, but also can’t imagine it now with a near-three-year-old.
How time flies.
The ongoing antics of two thirty-something *gasp* mamas raising our three-year-old daughter and adding another baby girl to the mix.