New Pediatrician

One of the things I hate the most about moving is finding the kids a new doctor, especially when we've found one that we really like where we were. Luckily, we've only had one really bad doctor...the other three have been good. So, I head to the the new pediatrician's office yesterday with the boys to become established patients (Hannah goes on Thursday because they only allow two exams at once).

We walk in and I'm not really impressed with the office building...it's kind of old and looks a little run down. The kids were thrilled, however, with the plethora of toys and thought that was awesome. I began filling out the mountain of paperwork for the boys and we were called back to the exam room. The nurse begins asking standard questions and hands me some more forms that need to be filled out. She then takes the boys out to get their height and weight. They were excited when she then told them she needed a urine sample. For whatever reason, they love that.

One of the sheets the nurse gave me was a test of cognitive skills for Daniel. She tells me to start with question 1 and keep going until I get three "no" answers. I was confused at first, but caught on quickly.

First question (and no, I'm not going to go through them all) asked Daniel to copy a circle. Only I wasn't allowed to tell him what it was. I had to point to the circle and tell him to draw the same thing. He gets a "yes." Draw a plus sign. "Yes." Draw a person...does is have at least 6 parts? "Yes." It gives me some colors and asks me to ask what colors they are. Daniel gets a "yes."

Then, it asks for definitions. What is a ceiling for? "So people upstairs won't fall on you." What's a banana? "Fruit you eat." What's a chair? "To sit on." All "yes" responses.

Daniel was having a blast. The nurse was standing outside filling out her own paperwork and listening to what we were doing. Then we come to the question, "what's a cup for?" Daniel's response? "To pee in!" I about fell out of my chair laughing. The nurse pokes her head in the door and says, "you have no idea how common that answer is!" Apparently, it was an acceptable answer. LOL!

The doctor comes in and asks if I have any concerns...tells me the boys look good...asks what brought us out here. He then asks me if the boys had their chicken pox booster (I know how much Sue and Deb love this one!). I tell him no. He tells me that Kansas now requires a booster and the boys are due. I look at the boys and tell them that I'm sorry I was wrong about not getting any shots. Jacob just rolls with it. He really didn't care. Daniel starts freaking out. Screaming, crying and trying to leave. The doctor gives the boys a clean bill of health and says the nurse will be back in. Daniel, again tries to leave but runs into the nurse. Jacob volunteers to go first (what a good big brother) and doesn't make a peep. At this point, Daniel has fled the room and I had to go get him. I bring him back and put him on the table. He's flailing around and freaking out. I tell the nurse that I'll hold him on my lap. You don't realize how strong your kids are until they are trying to flee from a shot. Daniel's a strong kid. After the shot, he looked at me and said, "that wasn't bad!" See...I told you! I was completely exhausted at this point.

So, now we have a pediatrician. The nurse gave me a few cards for some dentists, so I'll be making some phone calls today.