James hit the six month mark over Thanksgiving weekend, and then Christmas came out of nowhere and blah blah blah, I only just took him to see Dr. Looove for his six month well baby visit. But, I procrastinated myself into a convenient spot because Annabel was due for her four year check this month, so I was able to schedule both kids’ appointments into one visit! I was high-fiving myself all over the place (I am thirty-four and apparently will never learn my lesson re: procrastination).

Annabel had All The Feelings about seeing Dr. Looove. On the one hand, costume opportunity!

Dr. Annabel

On the other hand, shots. She was very adamant about not wanting any (shocker). I kept reminding her that I had to give myself shots every day, and that they only sting for a second. She was unmoved, so then I reminded her that James would also be getting shots and she had to be a brave example for him. She was…lukewarm about this. Luckily, her checkup started and that distracted her.

blood pressure

In addition to the regular checkup stuff, she had hearing and vision tests. My mom went down the hall with her for the tests (I stayed with James) and said Annie was really into it. The vision chart was animals instead of letters, and sometimes she yelled out the sound the animal made instead of the name of the actual animal. I totally wish I’d witnessed that. Also during her hearing test, sometimes she’d forget to raise her hand when she heard the tone and she’d start giggling instead.

hearing check

While Annie was getting tested, James was getting examined. He was all about the exam table paper.

PAPER IS THE GREATEST

He treated Dr. Looove and her nurses to non-stop smiles and giggles, even while he was getting poked and prodded.

OMGBBQPAPER

Dr. Looove endeared herself to Annabel by not only asking her lots of questions about the movie Frozen, but she also asked her to sing some of the songs. You don’t have to ask Annie twice, and she started belting out some songs…which made James start giggling again.

Both kids checked out great (both in the 90th percentiles for height and head), which is always a relief. I wasn’t expecting to hear any differently, but I hold my breath nonetheless. After the exams were over, it was time for the dreaded shots. Annabel started to protest but Dr. Looove’s nurse was great and let Annie pick out her Band-Aids. She let out a little yelp after the first shot, but only winced after the second shot. I was really proud of her.

two shots, so brave

James didn’t do quite as well for his shots. As soon as he started crying, Annie started saying, “It’s okay Jamesie! It only hurts for a second! Be brave, I know you can be brave!” Then she started making faces at him and James began laughing. That was all it took to make the tears stop. He loves her sooo much.

Annie is now officially done with all of her “baby” vaccines, and won’t need another (other than the flu) until she’s eleven. That seems impossibly far away. When we were back at home, Annie said to me, “Mommy, how many fingers is eleven?” When I showed her it was all her fingers plus one toe, she couldn’t believe how far away that is. “Mommy, I’ll be so old! I’ll have my own kids by then!”

Noooooooooooooooooo.