Worried for nothing

Caitie had her annual check-up last week. I mentioned her lack of appetite (she pretty much lives on chocolate milk and not much else), and how I was worried about it affecting her growth, but the doc said she's doing fine; he brought out her growth chart so I could see for myself. She's measuring at the low end of the growth chart for her age, but has maintained a steady line on that chart since the age of two, which her doctor said was good. She had her first eye exam and hearing test; she did good on the eye exam but didn't cooperate when it came to the hearing test. The tech asked her to raise her hand when she heard a beep in her ear, but she refused to raise her hand when there was a beep. She doesn't like to be told what to do, and felt uncomfortable following a stranger's (the tech's) instructions. The doctor said if her speech is okay that her hearing is fine, so there was no need to redo the hearing test. Then came the part she had been dreading... the vaccinations... she didn't want to get any shots, and to her delight, she didn't. I thought she would get some this time, but she's up-to-date on them. She did get the flu mist, which is a spray in the nose.

"Yay! No shots today!" (notice anything unusual about this pic?)



Here's her reward for being such a trooper... sans the hearing test part, that is. Why do kids always get a sucker after a doctor visit? It's not like they're thinkin' about how great it will be to get that sucker if they just behave while they're being poked and prodded by the nurse and doc, and enduring the pain of one or maybe several needle pricks... no, suckers are not on the brain, their brains are busy figuring out an escape plan, and plotting a way to get back at their parents for allowing such an atrocity to happen. So why not offer a packaged prune instead which has more health benefits? I'm just sayin' askin'...

...