"Mom, are they fighting for just us for everyone in the whole universe?" Aidan wanted to know.
"Well, it depends on who you ask but they are fighting for the ideal of freedom," I explained. "So I would say they are fighting for everyone in the universe."
"Do you think they will still be fighting when I am an adult?" Aidan asked.
"I hope not but I don't know," I replied.
"Well, if they are, I want to be in the military so I can go help them fight," he said. It was one of those contradicting moments in life where my heart began a tug of war, both swelling with pride and constricting in anxiety over the thought.
Later, Liam had his 9 month well-visit so after picking up Madeline from her school and then rushing to get Aidan from his school, we headed to the office.
"Because he has to go to work," Aidan told her.
"Ahhh, poor daddy," Lily added.
"But he used to play dollies with me," Madeline said.
"But that is on his days off and he doesn't have the day off today," Aidan responded.
"Poor daddy....he's sad," Lily said with a big frown.
After the conversation switched to something involving food, with Lily yelling, "Daddy, where ARE you? Peek-a-boo Daddy!" a half dozen times, I told the kids that we were taking Liam to the doctor and that everyone was to be on their best behavior.
"We will be having a Halloween treat from our bags afterwards but if you don't follow directions you will not get to participate," I said. The kids all agreed they would be quiet, calm and stay seated so that they could each take part in the special treat. (Ha ha...)
We checked in at the front desk, where I asked if they might give Aidan his flu shot as well. Aidan, overhearing the conversation, began his arguments about why he didn't need one this year. We were called back quickly and put in our room.
After weighing and measuring Liam, who's apparently still on the Hobbit growth curve, the nurse came back to give Aidan his shot. He was very brave and didn't cry but in true male fashion, he started carrying on about how he couldn't walk because he had a shot in his arm. He rolled up his sleeve to show his band-aid off to the world and he whined until his nose started to bleed. At the very least, he was sitting still....much unlike Lily who had taken to jumping off the chairs onto the floor and screaming in delight. Madeline was throwing books around as if we were animals in a zoo and Liam was laughing hysterically at them all.
Something about being told to be on their best behavior obviously struck a chaos chord and I had a choice to make: get mad or calmly redirect them. I chose to squat down, reminding them about our special treat and quietly read the books until they were all mesmerized and calm again.
By the time the doctor came in, two kids were bleeding, two were screeching, one was complaining about his arm hurting worse than anything in the whole wide world and Liam was smiling away.
"Looks like he's happy," the doctor says, looking at Liam and completely disregarding the other noise in the room. I tried to pay attention to the positive too and only once did I have to quiet the others down while the doc checked out our elf-baby. Point for the kids!
At the end of the visit the doctor told me he wanted to recheck growth in about 6 weeks.
"I'd come in between Thanksgiving and Christmas to save your sanity," he said.
Hee hee, I was flattered he thinks there is anything left to save!
This morning, Aidan went in to his class with his sleeve rolled up to reveal his shot....and limping. I am not sure he will make it in the military but I am sure they will understand why he can't join when he tells them about his man-cold-shot when he was 5! Chicken soup anyone?
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