Crazy Appointment

What. A. Day. Seriously, I had one of the strangest experiences at the pediatrician's office of all places. A little background...This office was highly recommended to me by my friend, and I have to agree - the doctors and nurses are fantastic. That is why we keep going back...despite the horrible disposition of the receptionists and the sketchy clientele. I have to say that yes, that is judgmental, but so what. I'm always hung up on, even when I watch them schedule the next appointment they never have any record of our appointment when we show up (thank goodness for the reminder card), and today we had to change rooms 3 times. We're all entitled to being frustrated at times. Today was my ultimate peds frustration. So AFTER we changed rooms 3 times and Eli was given a vision test by a woman who could barely speak English that was just about where I blew a gasket. Yep, this woman is standing at the end of the hall TRYING to say "What does this look like?" And Eli, bless his heart is standing there with one eye covered up asking me "what is she saying mom?". I just kept telling him to start reading off what he could see, but then he started reading the wrong line...well, another line than what the lady WANTED him to read, and so she started hollering a bit louder. Poor Eli...he's still asking me what she's saying, Chase is fussing loudly now, so I just tell him to read what pictures he can see and I try to duck into another waiting room to quiet Chase down so Eli can have his exam in peace. Well, all that happened was that Eli got so frustrated and finally just said "I can hear you, but I don't get what you're telling me!". So that was the end of that.

The doctor was fantastic and was apologetic about the exam, and we enjoyed chatting with her. BUT - the checkout...I am standing there with the boys, and two little boys came up to Eli and sat down by his feet and started talking to him about how much they loved his shoes. (He was wearing his Cars crocs) Then they started to touch his shoes, and Eli started walking circles around me, literally, to try to keep them from touching his feet. He is a child who when he wants his space, he seriously NEEDS his space. Well, at this point I had to put Chase down and I'm trying to deal with a receptionist that wouldn't let me have a copy of the boys shot records. She said that since I didn't request them thru the doctor, I had to make another appointment...ummm WHAT?!?! So anyway, I am dealing with that, and I had been keeping my eye on Chase who was sitting in a chair watching the movie they had going on their tv. Eli is still walking circles around me with the two boys chasing after him. Well, about the time that I was telling the lady that I wasn't going to make an appointment to get my records when I was right there for pete's sake, Eli is now starting to jump around and he's telling them to give him his space. (I was so proud of him really expressing himself nicely without just kicking them haha) He goes from nicely requesting to this growl/yell when they decide they want to try his shoes on and they are trying to pull them off of him. At that point I just turned around and asked whoever owned the children, if they could come contain them. As if that weren't enough shrieking, now another boy has crawled up on top of Chase in the chair and is trying to pry his paci from his mouth. So one child is about to get his shoes ripped out from under him and the other one is getting his paci ripped from his mouth. Nice. Parents anyone???

The only silver lining of the day is (well I suppose there are a couple of things)...A - we made it out alive...Eli got his shoes but Chase lost his paci. The paci is easier to replace and we carry around replacements anyway...

B - The doctor was empathetic and brought up to me that we probably felt a bit out of place, and told me that they are opening a brand new office down south, right near Fort Belvoir, and she said that we won't have any language barrier problems. Or any other problems. BLESS HER. She is also leaving the practice for that very reason; she was so sweet and it's nice to already have a connection at the new place.

C- I realized that it isn't just me; it is an issue for them. Oh - and I did get copies of the shot records; and the doctor told the receptionist it was crazy for them to have told me I needed a separate appointment. Ohhh the chaos. Seriously...that was a crazy appointment. I'm ready for bed.