life with a new baby
Posts tagged grumpy
Nathan and doctor visits
Mar 1st
Oh! How could I have forgotten to tell you guys this story I’m about to tell you?
Remember a couple weeks ago how Nathan got sick and I took him to the doctor? Well. Have you ever tried taking a strong-willed, determined, and very stubborn child to the doctor? If you have a child like mine, then I’m sure you can relate to I am about to tell you.
It was a challenge, to say the least.
First came weighing him on the scale. Only on this particular scale, the child has to sit still in order for it to lock onto a weight. Yeah. That didn’t go so well because Nathan did NOT want to sit on this scale. As in, he would rather have each of his toenails slowly ripped off, one by one, than to have to sit still on this scale. The poor guy screamed and cried and kept lunging for me, quivering little arms outstretched, mouth agape, tears rushing down his flushed cheeks like little rivers. The way he was acting, you would think we were torturing him. In fact, more than one passerby asked the nurse and I if everything was ok. And the part that broke my heart? Nathan saying, “All done! All done! Bye bye! Bye bye!” He wanted it to be all done so we could go bye bye.
And then when the doctor came into the room, all Hell broke loose. Nathan fought the stethoscope and apparently thought peering into his ears and nose meant the world was about to end, because Nathan fought tooth and nail. I tried to explain to him that the doctor needed to find the bad germs that were making him sick, but to no avail. When Nathan doesn’t want something, he tries with all his strength and might to keep it from happening.
And then? When it was all said and done, I was getting Nathan dressed. He was still sad from his ordeal, so I leaned down and kissed him.
“I love you, Nathan,” I said.
“Yaaaaay.” It was the flattest, most despondent “yay” I had ever heard in my life. It made me feel horrible because Nathan’s experience was so upsetting to him that he couldn’t give me his normally joyful response and energetic hand clapping. Hopefully he won’t be sick again any time soon… I’m not looking forward to going through that again!
Mr. Stubborn. Seriously stubborn.
Feb 23rd
“Nathan, look at my eyes,” I say as I go get Nathan out of Time Out. I need to explain to him why he was in time out, but in order to do that, I need to engage him by having him make eye contact with me. Otherwise, I can’t be sure that he’s actually hearing me.
“No… okay?” Nathan replies as he turns his head to the side. He furrows his eyebrows.
“Nathan, I need you to look at my eyes please,” I say. But instead of looking at my eyes, Nathan squeezes his own eyes tightly shut and shrieks at me. “Nathan, when you look at my eyes, you won’t be in trouble anymore.”
“Okay,” he says, still keeping his eyes squeezed shut.
“Look at my eyes, Nathan,” I repeat. “You’re not getting out of Time Out until you look at my eyes.” Finally, Nathan raises his eyes to mine, moving his eyes so slowly that they seemed carrying a thousand pounds of weight behind them. But Nathan, being the Stubborn One that he is, will not succumb to rules, no siree. He won’t have anyone tell him what to do. So, what does Nathan do? Well, Nathan tries to trick me. By PRETENDING TO LOOK AT MY EYES. Instead of making eye contact, he looks at that space in between my eyes, on my nose.
I’ve totally got my hands full with this kid, don’t I?
Being sick is no fun
Feb 15th
Nathan is so sick. He’s been coughing and sneezing with an itchy, runny/stuffy nose. He’s been miserable all day, following me around saying “Ug! Ug!” (that means “hug” in Nathanspeak) and clinging to my legs. I took him outside to cheer him up, and he didn’t even want to play. He just came over to where I was sitting and laid his head in my lap. I took him into the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the shower and read a number of books to him while the steam built up. That seemed to help him breathe better and get some of that mucus out of his lungs. Poor little guy. I hate seeing him sick.
On a bright note, I was making myself some lunch and Nathan got tangled in my legs as I took my bowl of pasta out of the microwave, causing me to drop it. The bowl broke and pasta went everywhere, and I looked over at Nathan who had backed up a few feet.
“Uh oh,” he said.
“That’s right,” I replied. “That’s a big uh oh!”
“Careful,” he told me simply. I laughed.
“Yes, sweetie. I need to be careful.” Good thing he’s there to remind me, huh?
Recent Comments
Aww thanks, Tina, it was good to see you too! I wish I could have talked to you more... I ...
I'm sorry you all had a rough go yesterday, but it was good to see you both :) I have ...
Thank you, I appreciate that. It's so cool to hear people say that we look alike... I've been told there ...
Awww... what really nice photos! You two look so alike, especially with the way you smile.