A Flexible Kid

I'm not really referring to the fact that Michael is flexible because he can put his feet in his mouth...

...or that he can fall asleep sitting with his legs crossed, leaning over with his forehead on the mattress....

...but, I suppose, I could mean that because he can do both those things....

But this is really a little "thank you" to him for being flexible with me and my schedule.

Last Friday, at 8 am, I had an ultrasound appointment for them to take one extra look at Matthew.

Rest assured, nothing is wrong, but there was something on the first ultrasound they wanted more detail on, so they called me back for a second one. Everything looks perfect (they said he has a big head though!).

However, 8 am is early to be out the door, bottled, breakfasted, diapered, changed, drive 20 minutes, park, and register, to be ready to be on the ultrasound bed by 8. Include having to worry about drinking tons of water beforehand...it's just quite a departure from our normal routine.

Fortunately, we had an early start anyways so we could take Michael Sr to the airport for a conference. We were going to be in that part of town anyways, so it was a perfect excuse to get to the hospital early, pack a breakfast to go, and just wait, rather than rushing out the door.

7:30 comes, I'm already registered, and I give Michael his breakfast.

8 am comes. No one comes out.

8:10....

8:15...

...did I mention I had to drink tons of water for this appointment?

....8:20....

Meanwhile, Michael is busying himself crawling as far as he can go down the halls of the hospital. Fortunately, it is carpeted, and it's more of a waiting area, so there was no traffic...but this child couldn't get enough of going as far as he could go! I would pick him up and bring him to where the stroller was, and he would just turn right back around and crawl as fast as he could as far as I would let him. 5, 6, 7, times I picked him up and brought him to where he started, and, undeterred, but almost with a little *sigh* as if had to start back from the beginning, he would take off on his journey.

Finally, someone with a clipboard comes over. I stand up, anxious to get going.

"Oh, you might as well just sit down! The machine is broken. You'll have to wait for the previous patient to be done! It will be at least another half an hour."

Well, Michael was happy, and I wasn't going to reschedule and deal with getting down to the hospital on some other occasion, so I told her "no problem" and chased Michael again, who, while I was talking was a good 50 feet from me now. He looked back at me, realizing how far I was from him, and whimpered a little until I went to get him .

Here's a quick thought, though for the medical community. When you tell a pregnant lady to drink a lot of water for an appointment at a particular time, please be ready by that time!

Another 40 minutes pass (in that time, a nurse came to watch Michael so I could do what needed to be done) and finally, we get called in.

Now, waiting in the waiting room, where Michael is content to explore the halls was easy. The real concern was about to begin: how was Michael going to handle being in his stroller for 40 minutes while they get this ultrasound done? I just prayed everything would be alright.

I had an arsenal of toys, books, and things to occupy him, but was skeptical that it would actually work. I was sure, at some point he would just start whining, wanting to be out of the chair, and I would either have to keep getting up to toss some new toy at him, or it would be a lost cause altogether and we would just have to reschedule for a time when someone could watch him while I had the appointment.

But, as the title of this post indicates, Michael was very flexible, and was, in fact, enthralled watching the ultrasound screen.

He sat in his stroller, eyes glued to the screen, almost, at times, looking like he would fall asleep! And at other times, sinking low in his stroller, peering over the edge with only his eyes and forehead visible, with his hands perched over the edge, again, just watching the screen intently.

He was so good the whole time. He played with some books, made faces at me, and didn't utter a word of protest at all.

So, thank you for being so flexible, baby Michael! You're a good boy!!