Mae's checkup

Mae had her 18 month checkup last Thursday (V day) though she's really 19 months now.  The doctor said she is at or above average in speech, which shows I know nothing since I thought she was behind.  It's just so hard to tell.  But one reason I thought she was behind is because she hits (Libby and me).  I know that is a sign of frustration in a toddler that can't talk.  So now I just tell her she better hurry up and start using words, since hitting is unacceptable.

She is in the 90th percentile for her size.

Libby had to go with me to Mae's checkup.  This was the first time that I had to bring both girls in, and I was slightly terrified at the thought.  The doctors office is at the hospital, therefore you can not park right outside the front door, but instead you have to park in a structure a half a mile away and take 2 elevators and this pretty much mandates a stroller when you are bringing in a toddler who can't really walk that far, in traffic.  We have a double stroller, but I can't imagine navigating the actual doctors office with that bus, so I had to bring the single stroller for Mae, and have Libby walk with me.

Libby was so good.  I mean really surprisingly good.  She was good walking the whole way, good crossing the street, good with the elevators, except for when she pressed the emergency phone button and I had to tell the operator to "disregard", good in the waiting room when I had to pull her away from toys to go inside, and good inside with Mae (only tried to escape once).  She was friendly to the doctor, interrupting him once with Mae to say "can I have that?" (referring to his stethoscope, he gave to her).  They high-fived at the end of the appointment, and then Libby walked out into the hallway and said, "We have to go home now!" to the first person who walked by.

Mae was as good as can be expected, under the circumstances.  She did not want to be there, but she didn't throw a tantrum, either.

Me, I was super stressed.  I resent having to take time off work to take the kids to their doctors appointments.   Somehow Mike has missed every single one.  This is not for lack of trying on my part.  I always schedule their appointments with the idea that he will go and actually meet the pediatrician at least once.  And then thanks to his consistently unpredictable schedule, he always has to work that day.  And due to the fact that for some reason we chose a pediatrician who is supremely popular, it is impossible to reschedule the kids' appointments to work around Mike's schedule.

I also resented the fact that we had no nanny that day, which is very Devil Wears Prada of me if you knew the circumstances, but I. Don't. Care.  I should clarify that we're still transitioning from old nanny to new nanny, and the new nanny wasn't scheduled that day.

Which is how I ended up taking virtually the entire day off, squeezing in work before Libby woke up and then after the kids went to bed.

After the appointment I was still so upset about the circumstances that I reminded myself that we had to have our daily requirement of FUN.  So we drove west.  Mae needed a nap and I knew the drive would probably help her sleep.  We got snacks and then we drove to the forest, past where the werewolves live (Twilight reference) to Stub Stewart State Park  which we'd never been to before.  It's an easy drive and has about 100 campsites, so I made a mental note of that.  We drove quite a ways through the park, and Libby announced "we're in the woods!"