Dr. visit

We went to the doctor last week.  His 18-month visit.  Dr. Klotzman, his pediatrician who is an Orthodox Jew, loved him, said she wanted to steal him.  He was so QUIET while she listened to his heart and lungs.  It just about made me cry.  He sat there, still, and watched her move the bell of the scope around his chest.  He looked at me, and at Hannah, and saw how still we were, and he was still too.  

It reminded me of a game that Hannah likes to play.  When I come home, sometimes she stands perfectly still someplace --- sometimes for a long time, like three whole minutes, as I wander the apartment saying her name and eventually concluding she’s not there.  And then, once I’ve started roaming around like I’m alone, she sneaks up behind me and shouts and scares the living piss out of me and down my leg.  

One day she did it with Elliot.  I climbed the stairs to our apartment, loaded with groceries, clicked open the door and called her name.  No response.  So I went into the kitchen and dumped the groceries, and said “you here?” even louder.  Still no response.   So I went into the living room.  And what did I find?

Hannah sitting on the couch, with Elliot on her lap.  She was bubbling with glee.  “Somehow he just KNEW to be quiet,” she said. 

And the same thing happened in the doctor’s office.  He has some ability to sense when the moment calls for stillness.  Not sure what that means for his adult personality....