A Successful Trip

You all may think I’m silly or weird for wanting to remember this, but I’m writing it down anyway, for myself :)

Oh, and recently I’ve been wondering if people think that I am sometimes negative or portraying life with a child (my child) kind of dramatically because I always mention his (mis)behavior, even if I’m just doing a weekend recap.  But, I try so hard to be true-to-life on here.  For me, remembering the trying times makes the good times even sweeter.  So, please don’t mistake my need to document the bad with the good for anything other than what is it.  Which is simply telling a story, the way it happened.  Oh, and perhaps the fact that I’m a wee bit dramatic.  At times.  Or so I’ve been told ;)

Sorry, just felt the need for a disclaimer for some reason.

So, today Cooper went to the doctor.  He’s fine, really, just has some allergy issues.  On Mondays, my dad watches him, so they met me at the doctor’s office.

I walked in and saw my dad, but Cooper was nowhere to be found.  Then I looked over at the big playhouse/slide that they have, and there were 3 kids over there playing.  And one was Cooper.  He has never been able to play on that without help.  He usually needs help climbing the ladder to get up in it, and then he needs help finding and then going down the slide.  Usually, he puts his foot down while going down the slide, so we always stand right by him so he doesn’t do that and start to somersault down it.

But today?  He was navigating that thing like a pro.  Weaving in and out of the tunnel, and climbing right up to the tallest slide, and zipping right down it with no problem.  I just sat there, probably with a stupid goofy grin, because he looked like such a big boy.

And he was so good around the 2 bigger boys that were playing on it, too.  He took turns, and waited until they were off of the slide to go down.  He listened to me when I told him to wait until one of the boys had gotten out of the front of the slide.  He has always loved playing on the slides there, and every time we go (which has been a lot since he has been sick so often the past 6+ months), I long to be the mom that just gets to sit in the chair and watch while her kid plays.  And today, just like that, I was.  And I kind of wanted to cry!  When did he get so big that he didn’t need my help ? 

And then, they called his name to go back.  Usually this means a scream-fest because he can’t play anymore.  But this time, he went down the slide, and I told him we had to go back.  And he took my hand and we walked back.  No tears or fights.  He went and stood on the scale all by himself (he has never done that even though we’ve tried), and then he lifted his arm for the nurse to take his temperature, before she even asked him to.  It was so cute :)  He just stood there and looked at stickers while we waited.  When the nurse was all done, he proclaimed “Yay!” and took my hand again.

We walked back to the room, where he usually cries and repeats “bye bye” while trying to open the door, despite me trying to distract him with anything.  But today, we looked at a book, and I asked if he wanted to watch Barney on my phone, to which he replied “Blahbey!”,which clearly means yes.  So we pulled up something on You Tube, and he sat in my lap and watched.  People, this has never happened before, ever in his life.  And trust me, I’ve tried!  He watched while the nurse asked questions, and then he let her listen to him breathing, which is also usually a fight.  He also didn’t freak when the nurse left, or when the doctor came in.  We stopped watching Barney at that point, and he just sat in my lap and read a Humpty Dumpty book.  He let the doctor look in his ears, which is a MAJORLY big deal.  While the doctor and I discussed what course of treatment to take, Cooper hopped down of my lap and I got a little worried that he was going to melt down.  But he went and sat in a chair, and looked at a book.  I was seriously in shock that he was still being good.  He did keep saying “Poppa” (my dad, who was still out in the waiting room), and he did say “home” a few times, but overall, he was perfect! 

When we left, he still didn’t want to be carried.  He wanted to walk while holding my hand, so I let him.  He didn’t even freak out that we couldn’t play on the slides anymore.  It was crazy that he was so well-behaved, and amazing that he was such a big boy doing everything by himself.  Kind of makes me want to cry and jump for joy at the same time :)