physical

I've had to pull Juma out of school two days this week to go to the doctor for his school physical. The doctors checked out all the normal stuff, how are his gross motor skills, his fine motor skills, can you understand his speech, does he eat well, etc. Check his eyes, mouth, ears (ear tubes still in), nose. Juma was very cooperative and generally happy about the whole thing, except for the part where he had to show first the nurse practitioner-in-training and then the doctor his bottom to see if his eczema is clearing up. He's old enough to be a bit embarrassed about such things.

The next day we had to come back for an eye exam (passed with flying colors!) and to give a blood sample and--gasp!--a urine sample. Juma was pretty weirded out by that whole thing. He was quite brave about the blood sample, until the nurse told us she needed not a finger prick but a full needle-in-the-elbow sample. It took me and two nurses to hold him down and get the blood, the poor thing.

He got sympathetic looks from everyone in the health center as he left, sniffling, and holding his "wounded" arm out at an angle for at least an hour afterward. "If I move it, it will hurt!" He kept his sleeve rolled up and the bandaid on until bathtime, when the bandaid fell off. He was really concerned until he saw the needle poke: "Hey, it's really small!" he said happily, and forgot about the whole thing.