Posts tagged crying
Happy hearts
05 months ago
by Jen
in Oh the things Nathan says
Nathan was being a little bit of a pain this evening (ok ok, a BIG pain!), so I had to discipline him and put him in his room. I explained to him what he’d done wrong and how his behavior was breaking my heart. When I said that, he burst into tears, hugged me, and said, “I want Mommy’s heart to be happy!”
What a sweet little man, even when he’s pushing all of Mommy and Daddy’s buttons!
Growing into a little boy
011 months ago
by Jen
in Oh the things Nathan does
If anyone watches Blue’s Clue’s with their children, you know that in every episode, there is a part where Joe (or Steve) “skidoos” into a book while singing “Blue skidoo, we can too!” and then they kinda swirl around and then jump into a book. Its really corny, but Nathan loves it. He loves it so much, in fact, that he tries to skidoo as well.
The other day, he brought one of his favorite books out into the living room, opened it, and then ceremoniously placed it on the floor. Then he stood up, excitement painted all over his little face. Then he pointed to the book and sang “Blue Skidoo, we can too!” Then he swirled around and jumped onto the book. After a moment of standing on the pages, he looked at me and said, “It’s not working! Let’s try again!”
Rinse and repeat.
He attemped to skidoo multiple times and after each failure, he issued the same exclamation about it not working and trying again. One thing’s for sure, this kid had perseverence. And he’s so dang cute when he’s doing it.
In other news, Nathan had his three-year check-up at the doctor’s yesterday. I tried to schedule it around the time he turned three, but the office said it was sick season and that they wouldn’t be doing well-checks for a few months. So anyway. It was quite an experience. He did great right up until they called his name to go back… he fought me and did the Limp Body. You know, where a kid goes completely limp like a cooked spaghetti noodle, making it hard for you to pick them up and carry them because they just slide out of your arms.
He screamed bloody murder as they tried to take his temperature. He fought standing on the scale, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to stand up straight so they could get his height. He measured 40 inches tall, but he kept slumping over, so I think he’s more like 41 inches. He weighs 39 pounds. That puts him in the 95th percentile for both weight and height. He’s going to be so tall, just like his daddy! Paul is about 6’5 (6’6 with his shoes on!) And I’m a hair from being 5’8 (barefoot). So the kid has some tall genes, which is awesome.
Next, the nurse tried to get his blood pressure. Nathan totally rebelled, complete with thrashing and howling. When she told him the blood pressure cuff was just giving his arm a hug, he calmed down enough to get a reading. Whew. By this time, he was covered in sweat from fighting so hard.
Next came the exam. Lord have mercy. He fought and kicked and issued howls that sounded not unlike those of a wounded mountain lion. He scratched and thrashed and screeched and wailed. He was in complete flight-or-fight mode. I felt bad for him. He was completely freaked out.
The doctor said it’s completely normal for strong-willed children to behave that way. That’s good, I guess. I’m glad he’s not ABnormal. Ha.
So anyway, he checked out just fine. He’s already hit all his milestones and then some. He know’s all of his ABC’s, both uppercase and lowercase. He knows most of the sounds the letters make, but he hasn’t quite mastered that. He doesn’t know how to read just yet, but he can recognize some words like mom, dad, nathan, book, feet, etc, and we are working on how to sound letters out. He can count to 30 without help (with the teens being an exception… he always stumbles over 14-18) and to 100 with help. As in, I need to tell him what comes after 39, 49, 59, etc, but other than that, he’s got it down pat. Right now, we’re working on simple addition (2+1, 7+3, etc). This kid loves to learn.
So the doctor’s office is setting us up with a comprehensive evaluation to see where he stands intellectually, physically (as in motor skills), speech, and behaviorally. He’s too young for an IQ test, though. I suppose that can be issued once he learns how to read. I’m curious to see where he stands, however, and what I can do to cultivate his desire to learn.
So after the doctor’s office visit, we went to eat and then bathingsuit shopping for me. He was a perfect little angel. And that says a lot because he’s typically extremely strong-willed and sometimes embarrassing when I take him out in public. But this time, he minded me so well, sat on bis bottom the entire time we ate (as opposed to jumping around in the seat, which we do NOT condone), and then he was so very patient as I shopped for swimsuits. And then when we left the store, he blew kisses to the ladies at the cash register.
Oh how I love this boy.
First visit to the dentist
01 year ago
Ok, so remember last time I talked about Nathan face-planting in a parking lot and knocking his two front teeth loose? Well, this post is about the ensuing dentist visit.
Nathan hadn’t been to a dentist yet. It was something on our to-do list, but for some reason, I thought that kids didn’t need to see a dentist for teeth cleaning until they were three. (They actually need to go at age two.) So I called my dentist, who by the way is AWESOME.
Side story: I’ve been having some tooth pain but I didn’t have a dentist and had no idea who to call. So I asked my mother-in-law who she sees because she has some sort of innate ability to pick amazing doctors. I haven’t had my teeth cleaning in years (I know, shame on me!) because my last dental visit was rather traumatic. I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled, and my dentist at the time (who I had been seeing for almost 20 years) was becoming cranky and rude in his old age. My teeth were impacted, so they had to be cut out. I swear, I could feel every single bit of it even though I had numbing shots. As I was screaming in agony with tears flowing down my face, my dentist told me that it was “impossible” to feel pain after having the shots.
I have not been to a dentist since then.
So anyway, I went to my mother-in-law’s dentist and was blown away by how friendly the staff was, how careful they were with my mouth, and how knowledgeable and helpful the dentist was. I am scheduled for a deep cleaning soon, a couple fillings, and to replace an old filling… and I’m not feeling all panicky and anxious about it because I know they will take care of me.
What’s really cool about them is how understanding and compassionate they were towards Nathan. I didn’t have a sitter that day, so I had to bring him with me. He freaked out. Totally. Complete with hysterical screaming and thrashing… and he wasn’t even the one seeing the dentist! They were so understanding, however. They gave him three race cars, a bouncy ball, and let him play with a set of display teeth. They cajoled him and spoke softly with him, and even sat with him and played while I was getting x-rays. They were super awesome and they now have me as a client for life!
So back to my story. Since Nathan didn’t have a dentist, I called mine to see if they accept children his age. They said that they do… but only as long as the child will allow them to look into his or her mouth. I may have chuckled a little. With Nathan flying into hysterics when I WAS THE ONE SEEING THE DENTIST, I knew there was no way he would allow anyone to look into his mouth. So they recommended I take him to a pediatric dentist.
When I called, I warned them that my three-year-old is incredibly strong-willed and would more than likely fight tooth-and-nail (gotta love the pun) when they try to check his mouth. She replied that they only deal with children and they are used to it, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
Awesome!
When we walked into the door of the pediatric dentist, there was no wailing. No frightened screeching. No flowing of tears. The waiting room was kid-friendly (of course), complete with tons of books, a few toys, and some paper hot-air balloons swaying gently from the ceiling. When we walked in, Nathan took one look around and said “Wow!” as he darted towards the bookshelf. He scampered about the room, alternating between playing with toys, pawing through the books on the bookshelf, and running up to the receptionist to tell her over-and-over again what his last name is.
When it was time for us to be called back, Nathan went willingly. We went through a brightly-painted hall, passing by a display of neatly arranged stuffed animals as we walked into the equally festive and colorful dental room. Nathan willingly stepped onto the scale when they asked and hopped up onto the cleaning bed with a smile on his face.
Getting him to lay down was another story. He knew something was up, and he didn’t like it. The dental hygienist explained to him what they were about to do. After much ado, we were able to coax him into laying down. He fought somewhat but she was able to check his teeth to see if they were ok to clean (since he’d never had a cleaning before.) Even though his front teeth were loose, he was good to go for a cleaning. She showed him the “spinning toothbrush” and even let him hold it. She let him pick out the flavor of his “toothpaste” (grape) and the flavor of his fluoride treatment (strawberry.) But as soon as we tried to lay him down, the thrashing and screaming commenced full throttle.
Fortunately, they were able to work with him and we were able to get his teeth cleaned. And the good thing about a child screaming bloody murder during a cleaning is that their mouth is wide open, allowing great access! Lets just say that he fought so hard that he was completely covered in sweat by the time it was done. So much so that they had to wipe him down with tissues!
When it was finished, without any hesitation whatsoever, they whisked out three bins chalked full of toys onto the bed next to us and told Nathan to pick out what toys he would like. He picked out some cars and some stickers and proceeded to roll them happily around on the floor, even as his tears were still freshly glistening on his sweaty and flushed cheeks. But then Nathan wanted to roll his cars elsewhere, so two assistants escorted him out to the waiting room where they sat on the floor and played with him for THIRTY MINUTES while I spoke to the dentist about his tooth injuries.
Seriously, this dentist was super awesome and I was thankful and impressed that he took such a long time discussing it all with me.
Basically, Nathan had a 50/50 chance of loosing his two front teeth because his gums were so red and angry that either the teeth could die or their own or might have to be pulled for the good of the permanent teeth that are developing behind them right now. The dentist explained that it if the teeth survived, it would take about a month or longer for them to tighten up but in the meantime, Nathan could eat whatever he wanted as long as it was cut up into tiny bites. Absolutely no biting into anything with his front teeth, and no falling. He said just one more fall on those loose teeth and it would be over- the teeth would not survive.
So once we were finished, I walked back out to the waiting room and saw Nathan having a total blast with the assistants. They were all sitting on the floor, rolling cars back and forth. Nathan didn’t want to leave!! It was awesome how they took care of him and saw him as a person rather than a number. I felt like they really cared. I will definitely be using them for now on!
So as of today, it looks like Nathan’s teeth are going to survive. His gums have regained their healthy pink look and the swelling has disappeared. His teeth are still a little loose, but they are definitely tightening up. It looks like everything worked in his favor and he won’t lose his two front teeth, thank the Lord.
Did I mention that it’s stressful being a parent?
Oh my poor little man
01 year ago
So it’s been a while since my last post. A lot has been going on here! The biggest news of all is that Nathan had another emergency room visit over the weekend.
I had just finished working out and was meeting Nathan and Paul at a nearby restaurant. I arrived first, so I got a table and waited for them to get there. Although I was sitting near the middle of the restaurant, I could still see them through one of the windows when they got there. I watched as Paul and Nathan got out of the car and started to head towards the door, and then saw Paul turn back towards the car to get something. When Nathan turned to follow him, he stumbled and fell. I couldn’t see exactly what happened, but I saw Paul swoop Nathan up and carry him back to the car. I just figured the little guy skinned his knee. And then I saw a woman quickly walk over to them with a roll of paper towels. Worried, I picked up my phone and started to text Paul to see if everything was okay when he called me and told me it was bad and that I needed to get out there. I quickly snatched up my things and briskly trotted out to the parking lot.
Then I saw a mound of bloody paper towels on the trunk of Paul’s car.
“Is he okay?” I asked the woman who was standing there. She gave me a sad smile and may have patted my arm. I can’t remember- I had tunnel vision and my entire focus was on my child. I ran around the side of the car and saw blood pouring like a faucet out of Nathan’s mouth.
“He fell and knocked his two front teeth loose,” Paul said as I knelt in front of my wailing child. With shaking hands, I raised Nathan’s upper lip and could see strands of skin hanging down from his mouth. His teeth were severely loose and blood was pouring from his gums and lips where he had nearly bitten through them. As you all probably know, mouth wounds bleed a lot. There was so much blood, however, that it was hard to see exacly what was going on. We went through so many paper towels trying to wipe up all the blood. After about half an hour, we were able to stop the bleeding enough to get him to the emergency room.
Nathan, being the spirited little boy that he is, was quite angry with the doctor checking his teeth. He screamed and kicked and sounded exacly like a wounded mountain lion. It was heartbreaking. Fortunately, the doctor was very understanding and patient and dealt gently with Nathan. He said that Nathan’s front two teeth were loose and his gums were angry and swollen, but he didn’t hit his head or have a concussion so he should be okay. He said to follow up with his dentist within the next few days so they can see exactly what kind of damage had been done. When he was finished, he hunted down a grape popsicle for the little guy, who tearfully slurped it up.
A nurse then came in who seemed very bitter and was apparently unfamiliar with children. She declared she needed to get his vitals (temperature, pulse, and blood pressure. *insert dry laughter.*)
“Well, we can’t take his temperature when he’s eating a popsicle,” she said with unmasked irritation as she eyed Nathan sadly slurping the icy deliciousness. No kidding, Ms. Smarty Pants. Then she tried to put his finger in a device that would read his pulse, but you’d think a viper was hanging onto Nathan’s finger the way he screamed about it. She kept telling him to sit still… seriously woman. HE’S ONLY THREE AND HE’S IN PAIN. And then? Then she tried to take his blood pressure. THAT was an EPIC FAIL. He kicked and writhed and screamed and frantically tried to get the cuff off his arm while screaming that it hurt. He knocked the wires loose, aggravating Ms. Meanie even more. She said he needed to sit still and calm down or she wouldn’t be able to get a reading.
I may have laughed a little loudly.
Of course, she couldn’t get a reading for his blood pressure because he was way too upset. “Well,” she huffed. “It won’t read because he won’t calm down.” No shit, Sherlock. She pretty much yanked the cuff off his arm, irritation oozing from her pores so thickly it was almost tangible. Apparently, this woman had never been in the same room with a child before. I think she should find a different job.
At any rate, after all that, we were finally able to head home. Nathan’s upper lip was so swollen from the impact that he looked like a pitiful little duckling. His gums were a vicious purple color, and the abrasions on his upper and lower lips were bright red. Poor kid looked like he had been through the mill. We stopped at a nearby ice cream parlor and let him eat his fill of chocolate ice cream, which lifted his little spirits somewhat.
After all that, next on the agenda was getting him to a dentist. That’s another post in and of itself, so I’ll write about that next time.
In the meantime, keep the little man in your prayers.
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