Doctor, Doctor!

One of the little "quirks" my Princess Maya has is her fear of the doctor's office. Ok, that's often a pretty normal fear for most little kids -probably a few adults here and there as well - but her's used to begin when we would pull into the parking lot and involved lots of screaming, a few well-placed kicks now and then, lots of rolling on the floor of the van or car as we would try to get her out, more rolling, kicking, screaming until we would get into the waiting room and then, sometimes, it would subside. That is until she heard the nurse call her name and it would begin all over again. It takes at least two, sometimes three people to hold her just so the nurse can take her temperature -and that's using the kind of thermometer that is put into her ear! Once in the examining room, she might calm down a bit, even play with the doctor's instruments if they happen to be laying out, but let a nurse and heaven forbid, the doctor walk in there and the screaming starts up all over again and then, it doesn't let up until we leave.

The receptionists are both aware of how she is going to react; so are the lpn's, the nurse-practitioner and the doctor. I hope by now they all have ear-plugs that they can pop in as soon as they see her name on the roster of patients for the day cause heaven knows, they'll need 'em!

Saturday night, Mandy had gone over to Barnes and Noble to look for some books on Autism and while there, she saw this book for little kids written about going to the doctor's office and in story-book fashion, it tries to show that a doctor's visit needn't been all that scary. Since Maya loves books -will look at them, name letters, let us read to her too now -Mandy thought perhaps this might be of some help for her - and for all the rest of us who have to endure her panic attacks and subsequent meltdowns too.

She seemed interested in the book, repeated a few things from it after Mandy read it to her and even wanted to take it to bed with her Saturday night. Sunday, when we went to Indiana, PA to visit Mandy's girlfriend and our cousin, Maya insisted on taking that book along and sat nicely in her car seat for a while, looking over it.

But, when we made the turn from the Clearfield By-pass onto the road that goes into Curwensville - which is also where our doctor's office is located - we figured out then that not only does Maya recognize the parking lot at the Doctor's office, but she also is very aware of what roads we travel to get there too! She began first to just whine a little. That quickly turned into a whimper and by the time we were driving through Curwensville, past the Doctor's office, she was wailing, big time and that didn't subside till we were almost to Grampian!

Yesterday, when Mandy was in town, she stopped by the Goodwill Store - one of her favorite "haunts" and lo and behold, what did she find there in the toy section but a really cute little "doctor kit" - complete with a toy stethoscope and a few other "play" instruments as well. She brought it home, showed it to Maya and played with the instruments with her to get her used to them. I don't know if this will work when the time comes for her next doctor visit to alleviate her fears, but it sure has turned out to be a toy she really likes. She carts that stethoscope around, hanging around her neck, goes up to all of us, regardless of what the person may be doing, and begins putting the stethoscope on an arm or back, leg - whatever limb or body part may be handy. Holding it there for maybe 5-10 seconds, she then removes is and in a very serious tone of voice she says either "It's okay," or "You're Okay now!" To cute, really it is, to doggone cute!

Today was a bonus day in the photo collection department pertaining to the display I'm planning to put together for our Class Reunion - which will be a week from this coming Saturday as a matter of fact. So I better get my act together and get this project completely organized so I have it ready to go next weekend! But today, one of the girls from our class sent me six really terrific photos -including one taken in first grade at the school where she attended and it includes several of the kids from our class. How cute to see what these folks looked like when they were between 6-7 years old! Another classmate had brought me a group photos - among some others - on Sunday morning too that included a picture from that same school but taken around 3rd or 4th grade perhaps.

Then, when Mandy brought the mail home, there was an envelope with about six more pictures - sent by the wife of one of our classmates! Terrific shots too, these are and once I get them -along with the ones I received on Sunday all scanned in, I should have close to 130 pictures with which to make a really neat poster board display of how we looked when we were really youngsters, some of how we were in high school along with a good many too of us over the years since graduation. I hope it looks good when I get finished with it and provides a good bit of entertainment then for the troops too!

And that's the way my day went today! So now - on to the usual, the Bushism of the Day for Wednesday, May 23, 2007.

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." - Washington, D.C.; May 19, 2003.

Now, aren't you happy as a clam to learn that little tidbit? Especially if you're on the lower end of the economic scale, it should be some sort of a comfort to know we poor folks aren't apparently as ready and willing to kill as the rich must be. Wonder why that is now though, don't you?