Grace's 18 Month Doctor's Visit

Well today turned out be very eventful for our little girl... first off  this morning she was strolling around munching on cinnamon toast at Bet's house when Lucy decided she'd like some too!! Needless to say her hand ended up in Lucy's mouth but it didn't break the skin just looked a little red. Since I already had her doctor's visit planned we figured we'd just wait till then to get it checked out.  So... the afternoon came and, OF COURSE, Grace decided she was going to take a good long nap so Mommy had to wake & take her! On the way to the doctor's office I got a call from the physical therapist we had contacted through the MISD about Grace not walking... she was calling to make sure everything was going well and that she was walking/running/climbing, etc.  She then asked me how her vocabulary was... I said "Well she has some words.... Ma, Dada, Doe, Bra (brother), key, see, dog, hi, potty, please, no, bye-ya, teeth, shoe, and I'm sure there's a few more". She asked if she had about 40-50 words.. um No.  Then she asked if she was putting words together... um no! So she then asked if I would be interested in having an evaluation done.  I said SURE, I'd rather be proactive than sit around and worry about it.  So they connected me with the assessment line and we made her an appointment for the 13th of November.  She may or may not qualify but I'm sure its better to have her evaluated than just wait around.  THEN... just about the time I was through with my conversation with them we arrived at the doctor's office.  Grace was so "silly" and made all of her lovely faces for the doctor and nurses.  She weighed 23 lbs 10 oz (25%tile) and was 31 3/4 inches tall (50%tile).  Dr. Kalo said she is just a "skinny" little girl!  She checked out her eyes (which she thought were very beautiful, of course!) her lungs, ears, teeth, bottom, and her hand (which to get back to that... it was just fine). The doctor & I then discussed Grace's biting of Jacob (maybe Lucy was trying to give her a taste of her own medicine)  she basically said to catch her tell her no (firmly) then remove her from the situation.... we also discussed her willingness to go potty on the toilet (we average about 1-2 times a day).  Dr. Kalo was VERY impressed with that, and told me to keep it up... :).  I mentioned I don't push it but since she has been asking we just go with it. She then told me she was up for 2 vaccines & the flu vaccine (if I was interested... which I was!) AND she also said our office is now doing led level blood work at 18 months.  So if I wanted to do that she could write me a script and I could have the lab do it downstairs... so I agreed.  A little blood work, WHILE I was already there... SURE!  So after the screaming we endured with the three shots... she got some stickers and we headed down stairs.  Here is where it went from good to worse (and yes I know I babble and have long posts... SORRY).  So down we went.  While waiting I ran into a parent from Beck and we talked while Grace ate pretzels and milk... she was so content.  A lab tech came out and called a little boy back... when he came back out he looked horrible.  His Mom said to him "We'll get you someone different next time, it never usually hurts that bad right?"  Well just a couple minutes later... the SAME tech came out and called Grace's name... YIKES!  We went back into the room laid her on the table (yes... she started to scream... recent memories of 3 shots) and the tech stuck the needle in her arm... yes... it must have been in her arm and NOT the vein because no blood was coming out.  All of a sudden she is calling in someone else to help hold the screaming wiggling Grace down and still NO blood.  It felt like five minutes... then her arm started to turn purple.  They pulled the turnakit (I have no clue how to spell that) off and by this time her arm started to look very purple and the tech told me um... she will have a very bad bruise there.  So I'm thinking to myself... lets just go... when they tell me to lay her down and they are going to attempt the other arm.  (Apparently they didn't get into the vein and we think they may have nicked the vein causing the bruise and purpleishness of it.  So I pick Grace up and comfort her a little before laying her back down for round 2!!  By this time the tech's have switched spots and the other one is trying to get the blood.  She sticks the needle in and it appears that we have the SAME problem.  They then call a third person in... by the time she comes in we finally have blood that was coming out!! UGHHHHH...what a long, horrible experience for our poor little girl.  She looked so sad when it was all over, she just slumped over my shoulder and looked exhausted (as was MOMMY!)