Gracie Grows
Remember in yesterday's blog when I said the hardest part of being a mom was packing away your child's baby clothes? I spoke too soon!
Today's was Gracie's 18 month pediatrician appointment, complete with shots. It's very hard to be a parent and look on as a stranger to your child wrestles their frightened legs and arms to stab her with a vaccine that may save her life someday. You know that its for their own good, but you secretly wrestle inside between the fear in your child's eyes and the duty of the caring woman who administers the dose.
Today was the first time in Gracie's 18 months that I had to go it alone. Garren has always been there for the pediatrician visits, he's the strong one. He helps hold Gracie still and is forced to watch as I cower in the corner praying her pain will end soon. Anyone who has had a child this small will likely relate to my cowardice. But, today, I had to be the strong one. I confidently answered the doctor's questions and I remembered to ask mine. Gracie was frantic as he examened her, but I held strong talking to her while trying to hold her hands, as she desperately sought to claw him away from her. She calmed down for a few minutes and clung to me until the nurse returned for her blood test and immunization. I did okay during both "procedures," and I helped hold my crying little girl.
The trauma didn't last much beyond the front door as we left, and everything was made okay again as we headed to Wal Mart, then the mall's food court for lunch. She even got to play in the kids' clubhouse before we left. Despite the fact that Gracie refused a nap today (after getting up at 8am this morning), relations between mother and daughter are fine. And, I think I am stronger for the experience. You have to reassure yourself, the prick only lasts for a few seconds, the pain a few minutes, the trauma of it all for an hour or so...but the crippling effects of life with one of the diseases these vaccines protect against; would last a lifetime.
It turns out that Gracie is well ahead in terms of physical and mental growth. She weighed in at 28.3 pounds and measured 33.5 inches, both numbers keep her in the 95th percentile for her age.
**The picture above was taken Sunday, it's of the neighborhood cat that likes our apartment building, Gracie is facinated with him. She is trying to give him a piece of sidewalk chalk so he can color. Garren and I did everything we could to hold in the laughter. She couldn't figure out why he wouldn't take it--she kept says "here ya go!" By the way, the cat is declawed (we noticed), and Gracie ALWAYS washes her hands after being in contact with the cat, and is never unsupervised around the animal!***
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