Thursday, February 09, 2012

Big Brother... being nice.

I took Aiden and Willow to the doctor's office this morning for Willow's 9 month check-up. It was the usual long wait which threw off my schedule, feeding and otherwise. I don't know why I even try to HAVE a schedule on days like this - the world conspires against me. The nurse called us back to wait in our own little examining room after weighing Willow in ( and that is a tale all of its own as Willow is not gaining weight as she should- rrrgh - I felt like the most miserable failure of a mother) and we proceeded to wait, wait and wait some more. Aiden popped his head out of the open door and saw another little boy down the hall, doing the exact same thing. He struck up a conversation with this boy, who was about eight years old. It is so funny to watch Aiden interact with people - especially with strangers. He asked this boy all sorts of things, including what color his house was, and divulged strange trivia about his own life, such as the fact that "Brad put a fire in our fireplace." (BRAD?!) Later as we left, he said to his new friend, "See you next year!"

When the doctor came in and began to poke and prod Willow, of course she cried. I did my best to comfort her, but Aiden stepped in between me and the doctor, as if neither of us were doing our jobs right, put his hand on Willow and poured forth a stream of compassion that amazed me. He was saying things like, "It's okay, baby girl. Aiden's right here..."

Then the doctor sent us to a lab down the street, to take some blood from Willow. Oh. Great. I told Aiden what we were doing, and he said, "They have to take her blood? Oh that's so sad!" I quickly explained that they weren't taking ALL her blood - just a little bit to do some tests...but that it would probably hurt her. He was quite adamant that he wanted to stay in the car, because he didn't want to hear her cry. And then when we were in the lab, and the woman was getting ready to draw blood, he turned his face to the wall because he didn't want "to see the blood." He would have hid under the chair if I'd let him. Precious boy. It was a tough morning for all of us.

Aiden's report to Brad later was, "She had blood on her!"

3 comments:

KJ said...

Awwww! What a precious boy! I love him. And poor Willow. The good news is, she'll never remember it ;) I love Aiden's synoptic report to Brad.

gretchen said...

That is so utterly precious! Yay for Aiden the Big Brother! What a hero!

I know alllllllll about kids who don't gain weight "as they ought to." One of my boys had a curve all his own off the bottom of the chart...sigh. May you be blessed with a wise and understanding pediatrician!

lis said...

Awww.

And about the weight gain. One of my brothers was nicknamed "balsa boy" by his uncle, and is today running around coatless in winter and building up muscles by chucking firewood.

(Not that this is what you aspire to for Willow...just illustrating his radiant good health). ;O)