Eve had her first eye doctor appointment this morning. I scheduled it for 8:30am so it would fit nicely with the flow of our morning, she would be well rested, not hungry, etc. We have been talking about it for a week or two now. I’ve explained what will happen, no shots, fun pictures, etc. She has been to the office (exact same room even!) once or twice with me. She was fine… until they called her in!
She said all morning that she didn’t want to go but she didn’t fight it. Once we were in the waiting room though, she tucked herself into a corner, clung to the bookshelf, resisted as much as her tiny body could. I carried her into the first examining room with the nurse (I presume) but Eve just buried her head and wouldn’t look up. With a bit of small talk we discovered the nurse was also the mother of Eve’s favorite teacher at school, but even that was not enough to make Eve lift her head and look at the picture of a house.
So the nurse brought us to the actual examining room where I got Eve settled and relaxed again. I even offered her a sweet bribe (lunch at Panera) for cooperation with the doctor. She colored and read books happily until the doctor came in and then buried her face right back into my neck. I sat in the chair, did my best to get her situated on my lap, the doctor was super nice and promised to let her watch some Nemo at the end. Nothing. At one point I even had Eve sitting properly (me holding down her hands) and head up (my hand on her forehead, keeping it up) but she squeezed her eyes shut tight and wouldn’t open them. Not much we can do from there. Sigh.
The doctor was really nice and said it happens sometimes… every few months, with the really little ones, she said. I’m not sure Eve counts as a really little one, but maybe. Anyway, she suggested we try again in a few weeks. When I told Eve it was now or we’d come back in a few weeks, she started wailing! She cried and cried all the way out to the car. Then she got mad me because she didn’t get her lunch at Panera Bread. Funny girl. I wanted to run errands after her appointment but when I mentioned it she started wailing again, so instead we came home and snuggled on the couch and read books for an hour. Then played outside in the beautiful sunshine.
We are going to try again in a few weeks, but if that appointment turns out the same I think I’ll just hold off and try again next year. I can’t imagine 20/30 vision is all that detrimental to a four year old. It was very unusual behavior for her, but I think she must have been nervous, despite my best efforts at prepping her. Guess I’ll have to up my prepping techniques… The Berenstain Bears must have gone to the eye doctor, right? :)
