Friday, August 12, 2011

Toddler At The Vet Clinic

So we had a little puppy dog malfunction. My poor Wonder puppy (my first born child haha) had her butt break. (She had an infected gland and it ruptured - gross). So a visit to the vet clinic was in order. Even though I can express anal glands, I'm a dog groomer after all, I cannot do one that's already impacted and swollen. Bummer. I made sure to be be up and ready to call first thing this morning when the clinic opened so that I could get my baby girl in ASAP and get her taken care of. I was successful in getting an appointment right away with no effort or arguing (yay) and hung up the phone satisfied that at 10:15 the doctor could make Wonder all better. I decided to crawl back in bed for a few minutes because Nicholas wasn't awake yet and as I snuggled down into my comforter a thought occurred to me. I don't have a babysitter. zomg! Holy Crap!! What was I thinking making a 10:15 appointment when that gave me no time at all to procure a sitter for the energizer toddler who is at his most active right after breakfast time. Add to that the fact that I rarely take Nicholas anywhere on my own b/c he is SUCH a handful. I was petrified lol and got right back up out of bed to get started so to speak. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to carry a bunch of stuff with me in addition to the hyper toddler. Seriously though, any time you leave to go anywhere with a baby/toddler it's sort of like going camping with all the stuff you have to take. Snacks, juice, diapers, wipes, toys, a book, keys, sunglasses, shoes, spare set of clothes (cause you know he'll have a blow out in his diaper if you don't!), wallet, and it's not a bad idea to also have a change of clothes for yourself. LOL. Now most of this stuff has a permanent home in my car. We always keep a diaper or two in there for emergencies, and a change of clothes, and a pack of baby wipes. However when you INSIDE someplace those things don't do you a bunch of good OUTSIDE in the car so you have to plan accordingly. I stuffed a two step diaper and one insert and three cloth baby wipes in my purse along with two toy cars, a mini sized book, a sippy cup, and some goldfish crackers. No room for the wallet so I took it out and put my credit card and ID in my pocket. Ok we're set. Anyway the point is with all this stuff you tend to have your hands full. Hands that are already kind of full with a toddler and now we're going to add a little dog to the equation. Oh boy.... this is going to be wonderful fun.

Naturally Nicholas picked today to be a total goober about waking up, as in he didn't wanna, and getting dressed. No time for breakfast b/c I totally misjudged how much time I needed in order to get myself and the dog ready to go out and then he took forever to get ready as well. Only had time for him to drink some milk and I grabbed a piece of toast for him to eat in the car. We are late! I stuffed his feet into his shoes and then put him in the car and strapped him in. All the while trying to avoid his soggy finger which he was determined to jam into my eye for some reason. I jumped in the car, started it up and we're ready to go. Opps, not quite, forgot to lock the door. Jumped out and did that then back in the car and started backing down the driveway waving cheerfully at Wonder and Howie starting at me from the window in the guest room tails a'waggin. Ummm.... wait a second, why is Wonder look back at me from the window? *glances at passenger seat* Awwww @$%^#$ !!  I forgot the dog!!! *sigh* That's a major blonde moment!

We finally arrived at the vet clinic with Wonder and I was a bit nervous. You never know what animals are going to be in the waiting room and if they are going to be friendly or not. I have a dog AND a toddler to worry about keeping in line and no help. I have a secret weapon though in the form of a toddler leash. Yes, Yes, I am one of those parents who thinks it's OK to leash children. You wouldn't want to let a puppy rum amok in a public so why is a toddler any different? I clipped on his adorable puppy backpack with the little leash attached and in we went. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for the toddler leash!! Nicholas would have been all over the place without it and there were some rather large dogs in the clinic this morning along with an unfriendly cat. I was able to let him play in the waiting room while at the same time preventing him from running off or getting to out of control which in turn allowed me to make sure both he and Wonder were safe. Nicholas alternated his time in the waiting room between playing with a toy car I had brought along, drinking his apple juice, and eating pizza blast goldfish (the breakfast of champions lol). I know most of the staff at the clinic from having taken dog's there since I was about 6 and working there for a year before I got preggo with Nicholas. So he got lots of attention from friends and that helped to keep him occupied. When we finally got into an exam room I felt safe to let Nicholas roam "off leash" so to speak. Almost a good idea. First thing he found was the cord to the x-ray viewer which the vet tech (yay for Heather being smart!!) got to before he did and put out of reach. Naturally he entertained the idea of poking his finger into the outlet but that didn't last long. Next he discovered the lever style door handles on the doors leading out of the exam room. He had GREAT fun grabbing them and trying to open the door and then rattling the door, giggling, while I held it shut to prevent him from jumping ship. After the door game got old he decided he would have a couple more goldfish and then go poke around in the cabinets. It's so funny how you forget that not every cabinet is baby proof lol. Fortunately they didn't have anything in the lower cabinets that a toddler would find interesting and it wasn't to difficult to convince Nicholas to come play elsewhere. In no time at all he had exhausted his desire to explore and was back to sitting on the floor eating goldfish and Wonder was all finished and  ready to go home. I managed to gather everything up and get it all back in the bag, get Wonder's leash and then pick Nicholas up and carry him to the front desk to pay. He was only mildly interested in snatching things off the counter which was good. I of course put my ADD on display when I accidentally let myself get distracted and asking one of the receptionists about her new baby right in the middle of another conversation with the receptionist who was checking us out. Oops! (Sorry Crystal, even though you aren't even reading this b/c you are a goober and won't get back on FB, so won't see it!). Anyway all in all we went toe to toe toddle style with the vet clinic and we WON! Whooooo!!! It wasn't so bad after all. We didn't break anything, have a meltdown, get bitten or scared by another pet, and we didn't annoy toooo many people. Mommy managed to not be rude to a lady who wanted to ague with me that my dog HAD to be a Pomeranian mix (hate to break it to you but a Tibetan Spaniel is a real breed, google it, and MINE happens to be a champion show dog LOL) so score for me too. I guess we were both on our best behavior. The icing on the cake I guess is that Dr. Martin who owns the clinic got to meet Nicholas for the first time. Which probably makes him feel old lol since he's know ME since about age 6 lol. Anyway Thanks to Crystal, Vanessa, Hannah, Heather, and Dr. Chapman for getting Wonder Puppy in and taken care of and being patient with hyper toddler :) All in all a decent trip and one that gives me more confidence in my ability to handle Nicholas out in public on my own, even with a dog in tow! Yay for me and yay fro the toddler leash for helping me out!!

Next stop, pediatrician appointment first thing Friday Morning.... which I guess it today since I am up late again. Oops! Yay for the 18 month appointment, I hope we don't need shots.

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