Against My Better Judgment

I really try not to be *that* mom. You know the one...the one with the screaming child in the restaurant/grocery store/Toys R Us/etc. acting like the noise emanating from the little one in her cart could not peel paint, the one who thinks it's charming when her little one spills something wet and/or sticky on the floor and never once things to try and clean it up, the one rushing to the doctor's office every time little Joey has the sniffles...

This morning, I figured there had to be something wrong with him when that noise was all he would make. He's been tugging off and on on his left ear, as well. But he doesn't have a fever. And he tugs on his ear when he's teething, or tired, or sometimes I think just because he considers his left ear a security blanket. So I tried to ignore it. And I tried to convince myself that it wasn't anything. And then I decided I might as well get him looked at, because I was the queen of the ear infection as a child (I even remember having them, they were that bad and that frequent) and ...well...if he had one, I figured it was better to know sooner than later.

So I called and explained, and I could hear the nurse rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone, but she made me an appointment and I dutifully showed up 15 minutes early. So that I could wait 45 minutes past my appointment time before being seen.

I nearly left. Because no sooner did we leave the house, but the mooing stopped and the cooing began. In the waiting room, he crawled around on the floor (right through a puddle of something sticky that one mom watched being made, chuckling about how creative little Joey was...so I picked the little one up, dried him off, and spent the next 20 minutes of my wait explaining in a voice just a little too loud, that no, he couldn't crawl on the floor anymore because someone made it all sticky and gross. Amazingly, she finally went to get a paper towel. Moron.)

When the doctor came in, he looked in the ears and pronounced him the picture of health. He did go ahead and feel around to see if it might be teeth (I've been risking finger amputation myself doing this, but figured maybe he'd find something I'm missing) - but there's nothing swollen in there, nothing that feels like teeth are imminent. So, the doctor gave me that placating smile and went on about his business.

And now, having gone to the doctor against my better judgment, I find that I am, at least today, *that* mom. (But the peace of mind knowing that he's ok is worth it.)