From Ate To Ro & Green Means Stop And Red Means Go?

I kind of feel withdrawal symptoms when a whole day goes by and I have not posted. I can not even begin to describe two nights ago and yesterday. I have upped Ate's Miralax to help "move" things along quicker in the six foot long digestive tract, but he is a stubborn little thing. He fights it and fights it, and decided to do so for two hours in my bed and another hour downstairs, and still - NADA.

So after less than four hours of sleep , two nights ago, and another day of stuffing him with melon and Miralax and dried fruit and Miralax and Miralax and more Miralax, and somehow managing to conquer three loads of laundry and some other tedious responsibilities of mine, he finally lost his fight with the sh#* and I left the clean up job to my lovely Hun. But this whole process is extremely draining, physically and emotionally.

And at ten o'clock at night, when he finally emptied himself, we now had to fill him up again with his requested, string cheese, cereal and milk and a doughnut. I of course made sure to throw some grapes and a nectarine in there. Because, as the vicious cycle begins again, I certainly do not need to encourage constipation by feeding him crap. He went to bed shortly after he was satiated, AS DID I. And thank the Good Lord, he slept contently through the night, AS DID I.

But I needed the sleep to prepare me for the fun that lay ahead for me this morning. It's D - day for Ro. That is, it's Doctor - day for Ro. She is up for her five year physical (which I have put off for a month) and Ro, being my most sensitive one - I suspect would not be happy with what awaited her.

I typically set up appointments at a time that guarantees me, I will only have that particular child with me. But, I set up an appointment for Ro at 8:45 am, in an office not far from school, where I needed to take both Ro and Ate (usually at 9:00 am). So this meant, I had to have both of the little critters ready for school even earlier today and take BOTH of them to the Doctor so that we could continue to school from there. I knew Ro would need my undivided attention, but Ate had to keep us company nonetheless.

Ro was agreeable with the start of the appointment, even though she knew there would be shots coming, because her very wise and older sister decided to make a point of telling her this fact early this morning. (Thank you So.)

Ro is not the type to answer the Doctor's "stupid" questions about whether or not she knows her ABC's, or what a penny is or what her phone number is........because Ro is thinking,
[Uhhhh - if you have to ask a five year old what a penny is, you must not be too bright.]

And she will not demonstrate "two jumps in a row" for you, because according to Ro,
[I am not a Court Jester here for your entertainment...]

So or Ate, on the other hand - would come in with their motor mouths running and would not only be jumping, but would demonstrate cart wheels and the "Sleeping Vishnu" yoga pose, whether the Doctor wanted to see it or not. In fact, Ate (remember, he is keeping us company) would not shut up about "stefacopes" and "blood pisher cups".
(I knew he was referring to stethoscopes, although I can not be certain he was also referring to blood pressure cuffs as opposed to some other cup like device used for bodily fluids.)

In addition to Ro's small lack of compliance, she by nature is an extremely private person. When Doctor G. (who is lovely, but also happens to be male) took a little glance down south to make sure all looked okay, she was no longer happy with the way the check-up was going. Even though I was right there the whole time, I knew why Ro, who was giggling when he tickled her tummy a second ago, was now pouting and making weird cat like shrieks. I turned to Doctor G. and told him, how Ro is by nature a very private person. In fact, my six and a half year old will run around the house naked, no matter who is around. So still has to be reminded that it is appropriate to close the door when she is on the toilet. So has little inhibition and not much interest in modesty and discreetness.

Ro, on the other hand, for a couple of years now, will intentionally go somewhere private to change her clothing. She always closes the door when she is in the bathroom, and if I hear her crying while on the toilet, it usually means that Ate has decided it was a good time to visit Ro. She has a need for space and does not like when people intrude on her privacy.

Doctor G. was taken aback slightly, because most kids this age do not YET demonstrate this sort of sensitivity.
But, I know my Ro, and I know her INNATE sensitivities, so I will be more respectful to her and her needs in the future.

Doctor G. was done, and shortly left the room, and then I asked Ro,

"Ro, what was it that upset you, why did you begin to cry?"

to which she responded,

"I don't like.....he's a boy."

So I asked her if she would be more comfortable, for her next physical if she would have a lady Doctor? She smiled and nodded. Even five year olds deserve to have their nuances and sensitivities respected.

WHEN YOU CAN, that is......

Because I am sure she would like me to respect her lack of lovin' for all things SHARP that have the potential to tear through her skin and offer up some stinging solution of some sort. But no, as much as I would like to respect THAT sensitivity, instead I hold her down and make her accept it.

Needless to say, she did not care for the vaccinations, and I still was not done.

I had to take her to the lab across the way for a lead test/blood draw. Normally I would just assume this test to be unnecessary. Really, where is my kid exposed to lead these days. Then I remember all the China made crap that fills my house and I have to wonder...

Ro was physically fighting to get out of my lap, that the lab tech had to say,
"wrap your legs around her legs".

To which I replied,

Wrap my legs around her legs? I don't know if you noticed, but I am quite pregnant and my ligaments have softened to the point of causing my pelvic bones to pull apart in two different directions. I have not been able to sit with my legs together in over a month now (which has the potential of offering way too much information to complete strangers sometimes, depending on my skirt length and whether or not I am aware that I may not be sitting like a lady). I certainly can not turn my pelvis controlled legs into a pretzel, so just grab her arm and get this over with.

When the tourniquet was in place, poor Ro asked if the needle can go into the "rubber band" instead of her arm. I am just thankful for great phlebotomists, who get the stick on the first try. Ro hardly noticed once the "butterfly" was in, and I was so happy to be done with this ordeal. And I handed her the dum-dum lollipop which I brilliantly planned to have with me to reward her obvious lack of braveness.

I was also grateful for the very lovely woman who was really in line before us for some sort of blood work, but offered for me to go first. That was mighty kind, and as usual, makes me want to "pay it forward".

I was however, mystified by the woman who asked me if my two year old Ate and my five year old Ro were twins. I should have known then that she was not a very vigilant person. But I realized that shortly when we were both leaving the parking lot at the same time. We were each in two separate left turning lanes, waiting for the light to change from red to green. Well I was waiting, she, not so much. She apparently decided to turn left on a red when she saw no more cars approaching.

When the light turned green and I made a left turn, I ended up behind her as we approached the end of this busy street, in a right turning lane. And this time the DYSLEXIC driver decided to SLOW down as she was approaching the EXTREMELY green - right turn arrow, at which point I became a honker. And after we turned right, she felt like driving in between two lanes, causing me to become more perplexed over her, and some other car to the left of me became a honker.

I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt as not to be the judgmental kind (is this considered paying it forward?) I decided that she has red/green color blindness, which confused her knowledge of when to go and when to stop, although I think this is impossible, because I am pretty sure that only males can suffer from red/green color blindness (or at least it is a zillion times more common for males) and anyone who does is probably NOT approved for a license. So I include in my "benefit of the doubt" that she is really a man and is driving without a license. All this benefit of the doubt, definitely means I have "payed it forward".

In conclusion of my morning -
Ro is at school with brand spankin' new stickers to show off and I am exhausted once again. I think it was the incredible amount of physical exertion required to get my uncooperative pelvis to allow my legs to go all pretzel like around Ro, that has me tired as hell. But at least I got out a post.