Stump the Pediatrician

A trip to the doctor with David is always eventful.

Tuesday I took Wade  in for his 9 month check-up, and David tagged along.

I knew what would happen.

David would try to dominate the conversation, and keep the doctor’s attention on himself.

Sure enough as soon at Dr. K. walked in the door David started peppering her with questions, and telling her stories of his recent mischief.

Then he spotted something too good to resist.

A plastic full size model of the human brain resting way a top a high shelf in all it’s detailed glory.

By this point I’d made several repeated attempts to get David to, “Sit down and be quiet! Please, mommy needs to talk to Dr. K.”

The doctor, wise woman that she is and a mom herself, saw an opportunity and took it. She pulled the brain down from the shelf, and gave it to David to look at.

This bought a few minutes of silence for the doctor and I to discuss Wade’s progress.

But the silence was short lived. Soon the questions started flying again. This time about the brain.

“What’s this? What’s that? What are these? What does that do?” David asked about every single little nook and cranny, and there are a lot, in the human brain.

At first the questions were easy. Even I knew the answers.

“Those are blood vessels. That is the brain stem. That is called the cerebellum. Your brain tells the rest of your body what to do to keep you alive.” The doctor patiently answered all of David’s questions as she examined Wade.

But then David started pointing to more obscure features.

“Um…” Dr. K. paused to think for a moment. “Honey, I don’t remember.” She looked at me with some embarrassment on her face. “It’s been along time since I took anatomy…” she said apologetically. “I’d have to look some of that up.”

I completely understood. Most days I can’t remember what I had for lunch  by 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Dr. K. is a pediatrician. She spends her days healing earaches, and monitoring the growth of children. She doesn’t perform brain examinations everyday.

But David didn’t understand. “You don’t know? You’re a doctor,” he said with dismay.

I remember being small, and believing that all adults knew all the answers.

Here was not only an adult, but a doctor telling David she didn’t know what some part of the brain was called.

David recovered from the shock, and lost interest in the brain when he saw the little hammer the doctor used to check Wade’s reflexes.

When we got home I googled brain diagrams.  David and I studied it together, and found the names of all the parts of the brain.

David’s innocent belief that all adults are the final authority on all subjects is tarnished a bit. But now he knows there is one source that will never let him down.

The Internet.

After all, everything online is true.

Wade weighed in at 19 lbs 15 0z and measured 26″ long. He is healthy and thriving.