Wednesday, July 12, 2017

My BRAVE boy

Will had a mole on the back of his neck, and it had changed in appearance. I made an appointment with our dermatologist (with my skin, I almost need to keep him in my Favorites) and told Will it was going to have to be taken off. William was understandably apprehensive when I told him it would involve a "poke." We talked about it for about 10 days leading up to the appointment. I reassured him he had nothing to worry about, that I'd had this done before and it didn't really hurt that badly. Plus, I promised him we would go to the play place at McDonald's and buy lunch and dessert when it was all said and done.

At the office, William sat close to me in the waiting room, quiet and nervous. I had wanted to bring him by himself, but considering our plans to go to McDonald's afterward, I chose to bring them all. So William had to be gracious with sharing mommy and he was. He followed quietly to the room as we walked behind the nurse. She handled him with kid gloves, asking first if she could look at his neck, then asking if she could put some cleaning solution on the mole. She showed him the pad of rubbing alcohol before rubbing it on his neck.

It became apparent that they were not quick to take moles off kids because of how distraught the kids usually were. When I told the doctor that I had prepped Will to have it removed and that we were fine with that, he was pleasantly surprised and ready to take it off. William sat still on my lap, playing a puzzle game on my phone while the doctor injected him with sterile water and cut off the mole. When it was done, I asked him if it hurt. He replied with surprise, "No. Not really!"

After that, it was all glowing words and fun at McDonald's. We played there for about three hours, stopping to eat lunch and then getting dessert after the boys worked up their courage to go down the biggest slide. (I wouldn't let them get dessert until they had done it! And once they had, they loved it and did it again and again!) Neva was very impressed with the happy meal toys. She's got this little way of saying "wow!" when she sees something new, and a light up, see-through Mario is certainly something new.

I was so proud of William, so very proud of him.

And I had further reason to be proud, a couple weeks later, when I took the kids to the pediatrician for Neva's way overdue 12 month visit (at 17 months old) and for William to get his hearing checked. Our doctor informed me that William should've had an annual well visit/checkup and that he was now a year overdue for his four-year-old booster shots (I had no idea about this and I really wish the office (which sends me notices if the babies get behind on their shots) would've notified me somehow). He performed the annual and William, without any days to "prepare," had to get two pokes in his legs. Once again, he was such a brave boy. This memory is a little sadder to me because, right after he got his shots, he exclaimed like a trooper, "I'm not sick anymore!" (referring to a mild cold he had at the time; apparently he assumed the vaccines would cure him of his sniffles). The cold went on a little longer, of course, and the shots, of course, did their work. That night he had two miserably sore legs and felt even worse than he had that morning. I felt so terrible for him as I watched him struggle to climb into his top bunk that evening! But the next morning, he was right as rain - WITH the reassurance that he had been SUCH a courageous dude. I couldn't be more proud of my brave boy.





(Later, my pretty girl!)


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