Ever take a four-year-old for a vision and hearing evaluation? I just discovered what a great form of entertainment that can be!
Gracie will be going to preschool in the fall (which is only a month from now) and part of her preschool registration is a medical form to be completed by her pediatrician. Off we went for a check-up. Vision and hearing screening was only part of the fun, but it was the best part. We opted out of the worst part of the check-up: Shots.
Had to pass on those this time because I accidentally traumatized the poor kid a month ago when I took her little sis in for shots. I didn't have a helper for that visit which meant that Gracie got quite an eyeful as her sister got her pokes with the very sharp things. Gracie tried, but she couldn't "attect" her baby sister. She was declaring "I will attect you, Yibby, I will attect you!" But, try as she might, she just couldn't. For Gracie's check-up, I thought it would be best to skip the trauma and the drama.
That aside, she was measured (43" tall) and weighed (42 pounds). The doctor listened to her heart, it was in there and worked just fine. And the doctor asked her a few little questions to get an idea of socialization: can she respond? make eye contact? yes, yes, yes, she did just fine with all of that.
The nurse took us down the hall for the vision screening. Gracie stood right in front of the chart and rattled off what all the shapes were. Ok, she can see up close and she can identify the shapes on the poster. She was given an eyepatch on a stick to cover one eye at a time for the test. The nurse told her it was a pirate patch. She gets to be a pirate!
Perking right up at the idea of being a pirate, Gracie got right into the act! She stood on the red tape on the floor and covered one eye. The nurse pointed to a shape and asked Gracie to say what it is; Gracie replied, "R". It was a heart. What is this shape, dear? "R" It was a circle. What is this one? "R" It was a boat. The nurse looks confused, but I recognized the tone of the way she was saying R. I must intervene.
I said "Gracie, tell the nurse what the shape is. Tell her if it is a square or a triangle or whatever it is". "But Mom, She said I am a Pirate!" This is true. That's what she said.
Moving on to the hearing screening, the nurse held some sort of gizmo up to Gracie's ear and told her, "When you hear a beep, say 'beep'". Gracie said, "Beep". "No, not yet, wait till you hear a beep then say beep". "Beep" "Ok, we're going to start now, say beep when you hear a beep" "Beep" Pause.
"Do you hear any more beeps?" "Yes" "Say 'beep' every time it beeps" "Ok. Beep" Pause. "Is it beeping?" "Yes" "Mom, can you explain it better?" Oh yeah, Mom to the rescue again. I say to Gracie, "Every time it beeps, you beep". There, that should clear up the confusion.
Gracie said "Beep. My sister gave me the Princess and the Frog movie. Lexie has a baby in her tummy. His name is Charlie". The nurse says, "Let's try this again next year at her 5-year-old check up unless you have any concerns". I didn't.
Between the Pirate act and the Beeping, we had a very entertaining afternoon!
4 comments:
You just gotta love that Gracie!! She's original to say the least. See more of her GGma all the time. Although I don't think GGma was ever much into pirates.
That is hilarious in so many ways! Thanks for sharing and letting me know what fun I have to look forward to! Not that I'm not already having the time of my life.
Gotta love those visits. We have Little Miss's 5 year checkup next month (and ohhhh to be 42 pounds and be out of a carseat... no still in the low 30s, sigh). Our vision screening has to be done by a separate doctor though, so there are all sorts of interesting games and such that she has to do. My favorite is walking down the hall in a straight line in the "dizzy glasses."
Good luck with preschool!
She's still in a carseat. She has a Graco Nautilus which allows her to be in the 5 pt harness until she is 65 lbs, then it can be used with the seat belt. I think the law in California is 60 lbs anyway.
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