No multiple choice today. I'm just telling you straight up what you can call me...
Yesterday I had to take Abby to the doctor unexpectedly. Over the years I've had to take the kids to the doctor for unplanned visits more times than I care to recall. The problem with unplanned visits is the doctors have to squeeze you in, and squeezing usually means waiting, and waiting means WAITING!
When you're trapped for an hour waiting in the exam room? Let's just say it inspires creativity. One day, during a particularly long wait, I came up with this:
Coloring on the paper that lines the exam table! When they were younger I used to trace their body and we would spend our wait adding a face and hair and clothes. Now that the kids are older we spend the time playing tic-tac-toe and hangman.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
You can call me...
The good news is, all you need is crayons! That roll of exam paper is endless...
The bad news? First, you'll get strange looks as you leave the exam room with 12 linear miles of exam paper folded carefully under your arm. You have to take it because it's your kid's new favorite thing. You might even paint it when you get home. The kid's cranky and sick... you'll do anything for a break in the fussing. Trust me on this.
The worst news? You really need to have crayons in your bag at all times for those unexpected emergency trips. It has to be crayons. Pens and pencils will poke through the exam paper and mark on the table, which tends to make the doctors grumpy. Not good when your kids' health is on the line.
Toting crayons really isn't a big deal. They don't take up much room. In fact you'll never even know you've got them with you... unless you have a brand-new handbag... the only "nice" handbag you've ever owned in your entire life... and it gets really hot outside... fry an egg on the sidewalk hot... and you leave the crayons in your purse and they get melt-y... and you discover the melt-y crayons and pull them out in panicked haste to save your "nice" handbag... and you accidentally drag the bottom of your "nice" bag through the melt-y crayons, thereby staining the bag for all of eternity with either black wax or the oily stain said wax leaves behind... ACK!!
Just be careful with the crayons!!
But as long as you don't let the crayons get overheated?
You can call me brilliant.
Posted by Kathy B! at 3:21 AM
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55 comments:
I can call you brilliant. And I wouldn't even have to feel guilty or like my mortal soul might be doomed when I say it, because it wouldn't be a lie. You truly are brilliant.
(Overlooking the whole "melting crayons in your new handbag" incident)
Brilliant it is! :) Crayons are also a good way to keep overgrown children who call themselves husbands amused. Great tip! :p
this IS a good tip, and since i never carry GOOD pocketbooks (i haven't carried a diaper bag in well over a year. i just carry really big, fun pocketbooks), i shouldn't have any real problems!
OK: you're brilliant :)
When I had my niece in the ER a few years back they gave us fabric crayons and let us color on the sheets. It was awesome.
Sorry about your bag, though! And your not feelin' so good kid...
You are brilliant.
I'm still a rookie with this whole mom thing.
That is an awesome idea. Wow.....I am going to concur with you and everyone else--you're brilliant.
Better than coloring on the walls!
That is a totally great idea! I love it! And who cares if people look at you funny...I'm so used to that now I wouldn't even flinch!
Oh yuck! Keep those crayons in a ziploc!
Okay! No more calling me brilliant!! It was meant in a sarcastic way!!
I wish I knew this when my kids were young! This is awesome. I'd fix the pocketbook thing by adding a snack bag filled with crayons and place it by my key rack so I could just grab them in an emergency!
I would like to copy your post for my mommy post on Friday! Is that ok? Thinking I can just steal it... if you don't mind.
Let me know!
Absolutely Brilliant!!
Uhm, that may be one of the most brilliant things i've ever heard! also, if you use an old Bandaid Tin, you can keep your crayons locked safely in your bag so if they do melt, they at least melt in a containment unit!!
That is such an awesome tip...the coloring on the paper part, not the melted crayons part.
Ironically, the same goes with the inside of your car..crayons melt there too.
That's definitely a brilliant idea. Except for the whole melting crayons in new purse deal. Not so brilliant. But the drawing on the table deal is!
Dear Brilliant,
You truly have a knack for filling up time with fun. Are you sure you weren't a teacher?
If you don't mind, I will be taking this idea on our next doctor's visit. Judging the boys track record it will probably be before the week is through.
I guess I'm going to jump on the Brilliant train. Outlining your body and coloring in face and clothes...I could have so used this idea with the screaming anti social child of my youngest.
Ziplocks. They are the greatest invention.
....or...throw in a few colored pencils! I don't want to steal your glory...but...fathers DO know best.
oh how fun!!!!!! Im so going to do this the next time...although Ill just steal a crayon from the main waiting room I dont want a melty mess in my purse!!!
That is a great idea.
I had a crayon melt in my purse too. Thankfully it was just a purse I bought at Target for 75% off. But still. I was bummed.
Now I just carry pens in my purse. They tend to be safer. So if we're ever kept waiting in the doctor's office (which happens a lot) then I'll definately keep this in mind.
You mean you didn't already carry crayons with you at all times?
Amen to that brilliant woman!!!! I am going to try that next time instead of what we usually do. We end my playing with the little rubber hammer and other tools within reach that do not look breakable. The Dr. came in one time to find us with the extra long q-tips hanging out of our noses and mouths like tusks. Good thing he is a friend of the family and just shook his head at us.
Ha! You ARE brilliant! I can't even remember to put Kleenex or snacks in my bag, but crayons might be the one thing I could manage!
Great idea Kathy. I'm definitely going to use this one some day.
I don't need to carry crayons anymore, but my husband was able to distract our daughter away from her pain and panic in the ER by playing her favorite YouTube videos on his cell phone. Just something to keep in mind for the future.
P.S. My husband is brilliant! He is such a keeper.
This could really catch on! Exam paper art! Awesome!
You could put the crayons in a plastic bag so that they wouldn't mess up your handbag. :0)
Brilliant - even with melted wax crayons all over you!
I keep my purse crayons in a Ziploc bag!
Well, you ARE brilliant. We used to buy those huge bags of Smarties and make little castles with them in the waiting room of the dentist's office.
Twist up crayons.
And that is my final answer.
Brilliant, huh?
I always have crayons with me. I have not yet graduated from a diaper bag so it is full of all kinds of stuff. My kids love to color on this paper too but it usually gets stopped short b/c they tend to color on the walls too.
Brilliant! :)
I am going to have to start carrying crayons. Who knows when I might need them!
I love it....We do that at every visit (Planned or not!) The kids love drawing on the table paper! Being a nurse...I love the art work that is left....Sometimes, we keep it and hang it up!
Crayons are banned from my car.
It was an ugly turn of events that caused this ban to be imposed.
I think I need to buy some for Ben. The other day we were at a restuarant and he was coloring on the paper and he got mad I wouldn't let him keep the crayons.
Your brilliant but I agree with Yaya. Ziploc!
I do this too...and I thought I was a genius...damn, there are 2 of us now. :)
Oh, I haven't had a nice handbag in years, so it's no sweat to haul crayons around. We always bring them to the doc's, but I never thought to do the full-body art. I'm stealing that idea, for sure. Thanks!
What about Brill for short? I like nicknames.
And you are a genius. Think my doctor would think I'm strange if I do it by myself?
I'm going to start drawing on the paper! I started carrying crayons with me the day after a lunch with my BFF. The service was taking forever, and Evan was staging a revolt. Out of her huge Mary-Poppins-bag she pulled out a huge bag of crayons, which is weird because she doesn't have kids. "Fae, I'm the youth minister. I have all kinds of crap in my purse." Sold me.
You are brilliant!!
Wow, you are brilliant!!!!! I always get in the waiting room with my restless, whiny children and that's when I think "oh darn, I should've brought some crayons with me". I always have pens which, as you mentioned, rip holes through the paper and get pen marks all over the exam table, which doesn't exactly thrill the doctor and his staff.
So right after I post this, I'm gonna throw a few crayons in a baggie and throw it in the diaper bag. I don't even own a nice handbag so I don't need to worry about them melting and making a mess.
Oh and I love the idea of tracing their body on the paper and then drawing their faces, hair and clothes on the body outline! That's clever!!
So see, I've given you another name to be called....you are now officially Clever Brilliant Kathy B.
OMG. Why didn't I think of this? I thought I was good, but this!
I totally could have used this last week while we were waiting for the doc. My kids always want to read the books that sit in little baskets in each exam room, but to me, eeeeewwww! The germs that are on those things! I can almost see a green, murky gas coming off of them.
Definitely bringing crayons next time.
Hello Anon Mom!
great idea! now i just have to remember that i have crayons in there...
Put the crayons in a ziploc bag, Kathy! I have several ziplocs in my bag to share! And thanks for the great tip! Next time I think I have Sass write I'm Bored! & Hurry up! & leave it for them to see.
I had my Goop disaster so I know what you mean. EXACTLY
You are brilliant! I've melted many crayons in many bags. Guess that makes me brilliant, too.
Hope she's feeling better.
Winks & Smiles,
Wifey
Oh, darnit. And I was going to call you Al! (nyuk nyuk...)
Sheesh, with that very detailed description of fashion bag a la melty crayons, one might think that actually happened to you! Crazy. ;)
I can't believe I haven't been drawing on the examination table paper before. What planet have I been on? What a great idea!!
yech! My oldest melted her crayons on the lightbulb in her lamp when she was 3, so she could see all the pretty colors.Hated the things ever since.
tooo cute, i really like your writing style.
The idea about tracing your kid's body and coloring it? BRILLIANT!!
My CVS has a minuteclinic. If your CVS has one, check it out!!
Oh woman. So so true about melted crayons and any nice thing I own (which is few).
Sigh. Great post.
*LOL* you are brilliant!!!!
I always think of those things after we leave when it's too late. It seems when I do think of something to bring they aren't interested in it.
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