"Doctor"

As we left the house today, I told Charlotte where we were going. Then I said, “Where are we going, Charlotte?” And she said, “doctor.” Yep, one of Charlotte’s first recognizeable words is, fittingly, “doctor.” Okay, it sounds like “dek-ter,” but she’s working on it.

Charlotte met Dr. Z, her pediatric opthomologist, today. Like Philippe’s, Charlotte’s left eye droops and wanders a bit when she’s tired. Dr. Salem, her pediatrician saw this at Charlotte’s 15 month check up and, using the conservative wisdom she always does, sent us off to Dr. Z.

Bottom line: Charlotte’s eyes are perfectly centered (i.e., no wandering) as demonstrated in the super-close up photo the technician took (but is not allowed to e-mail to me. “We take pictures for our records, not Mommy’s photo album,” said Dr. Z. Okee-dokee.) She is far-sighted within normal limits. Did you know that all babies and toddlers are far-sighted?

Charlotte was a trooper. We arrived a few minutes early and she played contentedly in the waiting room. They had one of her favorite toys—a board with wires along which are wooden beads that she can play with. (I have no idea what this toy is called.) She was entranced for 10 minutes. Then we read books. She said “doctor” spontaneously several times so I’m pretty sure she knew we were waiting for a doctor.
In the exam room, Charlotte played with a smaller version of the same toy and with a stuffed dog and Pooh bear. Then she sat nicely on my lap while the technician looked at her eyes with a light.

Dr. Z came in and also looked at her eyes. Then, Lisa put drops in Charlotte’s eyes to dilate them. She did not like that at all. We spent 30 minutes getting Mommy breakfast (Charlotte ate some of my scrambled egg. Yippee!) and then went back.
This time Dr. Z looked at the back of Charlotte’s dilated eyes with the magnifying lens tool and a bright light. Baby sat on my lap and squirmed and flailed. But, she was pretty patient all things considered.



It was a long appointment and little sweetie fell asleep in the car almost immediately.