Allison Says

It all started innocently enough. Zach reminded me that Alex had his five-year checkup in the morning, a fact that I had almost forgotten as I was giving Alex his bath and thinking about maybe sleeping in just a touch the next morning.

“Am I going to get a shot?”

Alex’s big blue eyes looked at us, hoping the answer was going to be a resounding no. Hoping that this doctor would be like his pulmonology doctor, who has never done anything more than look in his mouth or listen to him breathe, I’m sure. Wishing that the appointment would end in a treat but nothing invasive, without a doubt.

I sighed, and answered him honestly: “Yes. Unfortunately you will have to get a shot tomorrow…”

The tears were instant. The wails were strong. Between sobs, he explained to us just how much he did not want a shot. He told us he didn’t want a hole in his arm.

Zach held him, rocked him, shushed him, as I tried to explain how quick it would be. How it would hurt, I couldn’t lie about that, but that it would be over in an instant. And! And! It would keep him healthy!

Needless to say, nothing I said could calm him down. He cried on and off for a while, eventually settling and accepting that it was time to read a book (Batman!) before bed.

When I finished singing to him and kissed him goodnight, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “Mommy, I just don’t want to be shot tomorrow. I don’t like it when they put holes in my arm. And I hate Band-aids.”

I kissed him again, reminding him that he has done so well on his chore-chart that after his appointment I’ll give him the one extra sticker he needs for a new toy. His sniffling broke my heart, but he said “okay” and told me he loved me.

The appointment was not as disastrous as I had expected. Knowing that he was going to get “holes in his arms,” I had assumed he would not cooperate for anything or anyone. I was happily surprised that he was nice to the medical assistant, and even nicer to the doctor.

He told the doctor my phone number, our address, and answered most of the doctor’s questions with, “I already know that.” (“Are you learning your letters?” “I already know dem.”)

When the doctor left and said the nurse would be in for the vaccines, Alex jumped off of my lap and hid under the examination table. He was behind a little ledge, crying, insisting that he was never going to come out unless I said he didn’t have to get the shots.

Eventually he came out, and when the nurse gave him his shots I almost cried as hard as he did. “Noo! You have to stop! It hurts! Not another one! NOOOO!”

Holding down your five year old kid while he gets stabbed three times for a reason that he cannot possibly comprehend? Insanely awful. Insanely painful.

He cried for a solid twenty minutes while we sat in the examination room. He sniffled and moaned for another hour as we left and drove to the toy store, like I had promised him. He insisted I hold his hand “down at my size” so that he didn’t have to lift his arm higher than necessary.

I am so happy we won’t have to do that again for some time. And I have yet another reason to hope that his need for his controller medication for asthma is gone at his next pulmonology appointment in February: he can do the flu mist instead of the injection.

Poor kid. Today was not a good Monday. Just ask Alex.

Alex hasn’t been a napper in years. He began to fight naps as a baby, in fact; from about 8 days of age, he fought all sleep, so fighting naps was only natural, I suppose. Starting around one or one and a half, things took a turn for the worse. There were a few months where, if I ignored him for long enough, he would occasionally fall asleep. By the time he was two, naps were done at home.

But naps were not done at daycare. He continued to nap three to four days a week when he was in full time daycare, and up until his most recent transition he was required to have quiet time, resting his head on his pillow for an hour, even if he didn’t sleep.

Now that he’s transitioned to the big Kindergarten room at his school, there is no longer a required nap time. The day goes from morning to evening and it is non.stop.activity.

I naively thought that it wouldn’t matter. He hasn’t had a nap at home in years, and he only fell asleep at school twice a week during nap time.

Isn’t parenthood fun? You are wrong all the freaking time.

That quiet time was apparently keeping him together. That quiet time is apparently what made him a reasonable human being in the afternoon and evening. That quiet time was apparently keeping me sane.

I had no idea.

Needless to say, as he transitions into his new class, with no quiet time, there have been many tantrums. There have been many meltdowns. There have been many arguments.

More tears have been shed within the last two weeks than he shed in many prior months combined. “But I…mommy…::sob::…Mommy…I can’t…I just can’t…::sob::…” and it was all because his hamburger wasn’t…something. It wasn’t what he wanted for some reason that normally would have meant nothing to him, but now it brings him to full on sobbing uncontrollably.

He’s lucky he’s cute and sweet and funny when he isn’t actively melting down due to exhaustion. He’s lucky that at bedtime, he tells me how much he loves me, how I’m his “best Mommy” and that he can’t wait to see me when he wakes up. He’s lucky he makes me smile and laugh so hard I can’t breathe.

He’s a really great kid, but man do I hope this transition moves quickly.

Alex is officially five.

We kept him home from school on his birthday, something I hope will become a yearly tradition.

Donuts for breakfast, pizza for lunch, chinese food for dinner, and an ice cream cake for desert. That child knows what he likes, and he got it all that day.

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese, an experience that I expected to take hours and involve a ton of activity, but instead was rather subdued and we were in and out of there in an hour. Twenty bucks worth of coins, and Alex got a few squishy bugs and dinosaurs.

I still can’t believe he’s five. Five. My baby is growing up, and it’s happening so fast.

“Mommy, I’m booooored.”

That phrase? May be the number one most annoying phrase that children utter. Especially because the phrase is always accompanied by an excessive level of whine.

It didn’t matter that breakfast was literally two minutes away from being ready. It didn’t matter that until I walked into the kitchen, Alex was happily playing by himself. The instant he saw me, he was booooooored.

I told him to grab his current love affair: Power Rangers. Apparently they are boring. I suggested he spend some time with his beloved Toy Story action figures. Buzz? Totally boring. I suggested he grab his iPad. I mean, c’mon… the always entertaining iPad had to win the morning. “I’m bored of my iPad.”

As his breakfast was finishing, I removed the heels I had worn to an early-morning meeting. Finally his eyes lit up. He knew just what to do.

And so the boredom was gone, and breakfast was ready, and the day could resume.