My darling girl, pt 3

Can you believe this girl is almost 5? Its incredible. She's incredible.

So unique, sweet and lovey, sassy and sporty. Sometimes a bit bratty. And funny, oh how she is funny. Her sayings, what she comes up with to say, even the way she delivers it. I am constantly smiling and grinning as I listen to her interacting with her little brother or when she talks to me, shaking my head sometimes, if not outright cracking-up.

Well, today we were at the doctors office in Red Deer, the walk-in clinic specifically; there for both No.3 & 4's nasty cough (that Gunnar got first, but more on that later). We'd been to the doctors about a week and a half before as well, for a related concern. That time, Ardan was with us (home sick from school) and after the doctor visit, we were leaving the building, about to walk down the stairs. Lena ran ahead of us, skipped down the stairs, and disappeared around the side of the building. As Ardan and I helped Ryder down the stairs, a sluggish process, a nurse came out the doors and quickly passed us on the stairs. Just as the nurse neared the edge of the building, out jumped Lena, arms raised and clawed, and she screamed "BOO!".

Well. I think she knocked ten years off the poor nurse's life. And all I could do was gasp "Lena!" as I doubled over, wheezing and laughing, doing the don'tpissyourpants leg clench (thank you children). Lena quickly scrambled back when she saw it wasn't us and said sorry. She was mortified for sure, but even she recognized the humor in the situation. I think secretly she was pleased that she cracked me and Ardan up so much. Yeah, he was laughing just as hard as I was. Ryder sort of missed the whole thing, thought we were all idiots, but he sure did like that idea of going "Boo!" to people. Had to try it on all of us a few times on the way home.

Today at the walk-in clinic, she had me in stitches again. We'd been shown to the little examination room and were waiting for Dr Greig to come in. Its usually anywhere from a five to ten minute wait, so that's always fun trying to keep the kids entertained and away from the sphygmomanometer (the heart-listening thingy-- see, I paid attention in Bio!) and the super-long q-tips and tongue depressors. Ryder is usually bouncing off the ceiling in there, climbing up and down from the exam bed, on and off the other two chairs, checking out the garbage can thats lid opens when you push the foot pedal. You know how he is.

So by now both kids seemed like they were being slowly driven insane by the close confines of the room and that feeling of having to wait. Nothing harder than for a little kid to have to wait. The room was starting to heat up from the three of us being in there, and the kids constant movement and motion. Then Lena let out a little FART!! A cute little one but still! We both sort of laugh-snorted but then I realized that pretty soon the doc would swing that door open and get a huge whiff of hot fart-scented air!

"Lena! Wave your arms around or something, the doctor's going to come in and smell it!"

She responded by farting again! And then again! Two more cute little girl toots, but DAMN. Big things come in small packages because wow, it was bad. Then I was almost frantic with worry and embarrassment. "Lena!" She laughed.

She goes, "We'll just say Ryder did it. That's what little brothers are great for, aren't they mom?" and she had a self-satisfied smirk on her face, head nodding up and down knowingly. And it was like, 'Child, you are brilliant! That is exactly what we'll say.' Phew.

I had Lena go over to the door and swing it open and shut a whole bunch of times (we were at the end of the hall so no one noticed), thankfully it worked! What a little stinker.

Note: As to the cough, what the situation is is that Ryder has had a cough for going on three months now and after many doctor visits, it is now being treated as asthma. At least until we finally get the cough cleared up completely and have him be healthy and cough-free for a length of time, then we can observe if there are any other asthma symptoms. He's been put on a ventalin inhaler, which seemed to be helping until his oldest brother brought home a superbug from school and he got this horrendous hacking cough. Gunnar got the cough first and after only having symptoms for three days, complained of chest pain when he breathed and it was confirmed as pneumonia! Gunnar got put on an antibiotic immediately; its been three days and he finally returned to school today. Do you not find it weird that his cold developed into pneumonia after only a few days? I'm a little puzzled by that, and fearful too. The pharmacist told us that he had it before, in October 08, so maybe its a thing that you become susceptible to, like bronchitis or strep throat. Hope not though! But back to Ryder, today's visit he got prescribed a cough syrup with codeine and a certain antihistamine that is used to clear out the lungs. We'll see what happens. My poor little baby!