Grammy got Mazzy a doctor kit a couple of months ago, and she has since grown obsessed. She calls herself Dr. Mazzy and tends to all the boo-boos (real or imagined) in the house. If you have a cut or a splinter or a bruise or a tummy ache or a stubbed toe, Dr. Mazzy has a cure for you.
But first, she must hide in a corner and put on her pretend Dr. Mazzy jacket, much like Clark Kent slipping into a phone booth to turn into Superman. Mazzy actually owns a play costume doctor jacket (given to us by Piccolini) but in boo-boo emergencies, there is no time to get it and she must wear the invisible one.
Then she takes out her doctor kit and goes to work.
This usually means, taking the heartbeat, the temperature and the blood pressure of whatever body part the boo-boo is situated, followed by a routine check-up of the ears and reflexes (goddamn, she is into that reflex hammer!) and then ends with a shot and a band aid.
Her prognosis is usually “excellent” except for the ears which always contain “germs” and require medicine.
Afterwards, we humor her and pretend that our boo-boos are miraculously cured, even if it’s a bloody head wound that probably requires stitches.
It also works the other way around, and sometimes when Mazzy bumps her head or gets a scratch, Dr. Mommy “suits up”, grabs the kit and goes to work. In these cases, I usually prescribe a hug from Mommy which has an excellent success rate. (Pfizer should be contacting me for the patent any day now.)
Today, I had a pretty sucky day (through no fault of Mazzy’s, oddly enough) and although I am usually one to hold it together, I needed to have myself a good cry. I went into my bedroom to be alone for a moment, but of course, Mazzy followed me inside.
I asked her if she could go play with Daddy but before I could stop myself, I felt my face crumble right in front of her.
I think she’s only seen me cry once before but it was out of frustration WITH HER, so this was very different. And back then, she was too young to understand or care.
This time, Mazzy stopped in her tracks and stared at me, and I saw something new in her face that I’ve ever seen before— GENUINE CONCERN.
Or maybe the look was more GENUINE CONFUSION, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.
I told her Mommy just gets sad sometimes but I’d be okay.
Mazzy’s immediate solution was to present me with her BOO (Old Boo is now in two pieces and she even offered me the good half), which I gratefully accepted but then asked again if she could go play with Daddy. She obliged by running out.
Two seconds later, she appeared back in the doorway with her doctor kit.
“Can I check on you?”
I smiled through my tears and said yes.
Then Dr. Mazzy dutifully went through her routine— checking my heartbeat, my blood pressure, my germ-filled ears, and pronouncing my condition “excellent”. She ended with a band aid on my arm and recommended a hug. Then she asked, “Do you feel better now, Mommy?”
I totally did.
Dr. Mazzy. Miracle worker.
My wife typically cries multiple times during any given kids movie (Toy Story 3, I’m looking at you), so my toddler’s had plenty of opportunity to learn to comfort. She’s seen me cry once or twice, too, but mostly she comforts me when I stub my toes on things. My toes are too long. She says:
“Stay there! Getting bunny and blankie for you! Make you feel better! Also, I kiss your toe!”
No matter how hard I stub it or how much I want to punch a hole in the wall, I don’t want to make her feel bad, so I try to put on a smile as I thank her for the comfort objects. It might be making me a better person. Also, at those rare moments when she’s not in the house, I really let lose, and it feels awesome and refreshing.
Totally cried, just reading this 🙂
i think it’s healthy to cry in front of kids. they need to know that grown ups get sad sometimes too. i don’t want to hide emotion from my son, and not let him see me cry. it’s good for him. now if my husband would only cry every once in a while to be a good influence on letting emotions out….
Hoping your Monday is full of hugs but for ‘just because’ reasons and not ‘boo boos’.
Exactly what I needed for a Monday morning. Thanks for making me smile.
So awesome. Love it.
That is so cute. I think I’ve cried in front of the kids way more than I mean to, but, like you described, sometimes you can’t help it. It always pulls me out of it when my little girl comes up to me and says, “Mommy, you ok?” For some reason, that always makes me smile and helps me snap out of it.
Which is good. Because it gets me focused to go see the twins have taken an entire bottle of baby lotion and redecorated the upstairs.
So sweet. Kids can be good to have around every now and then.
So sweet. I hate crying in front of Lil’ Bit. I’ve only done it twice – both times out of frustration with her – and both times she became genuinely concerned and upset at the same time and I felt like shit. Total mom FAIL. But at least I know she feels remorse. That’s good. It’s the kids who feel no remorse that grow up to be serial killers.
And Lil’ Bit has my doctor’s kit from when I was a kid. She’s also really into playing doctor these days. Her favorite tool is the stethoscope. When I took her to the doctor a few weeks ago when she was sick (hand, foot, and mouth – yeesh), she FREAKED out on our pediatrician when he went to use his. “I have… I have… I have… I have…” she kept stammering excitedly over and over again like a broken robot before finally finding her words: “I have one of THOSE!” So cute.
I think we might be leading parallel lives or something – at least the crumble-cry part. Who doesn’t need a good crumble-cry now and then? My youngest was the only witness though, and she’s too small for kissing other people’s boo boos. Her cuteness still managed to cure me – and speaking of cute, that pic of Mazzy is just about the most adorable thing EVER!
My younger son also loves to play doctor. It was very funny when one day we actually asked him to check on us and he declared that he was “off that day and won’t be seeing any patients”.
I actually think we should show to our kids our sad moments more often. They should know that we are human and that we get affected by life same way as they do.
Awww, so sweet. Those little buggers may drive us crazy, but they really are the absolute best remedy for a sucky day.
So sweet. I’ve tried so hard not to let my son see me cry. But on the rare occasions he has, he immediately switched into comfort mode. It’s like he’s this old, beautiful soul. Kids are amazing. You have the best doc in this biz.
I actually forgot that the first thing Mazzy when she saw me crying was give me her blankie. Sweetest thing ever to know your kid knows when you need comfort.
Just added it in!
I agree. Dr. B says that’s it healthy for kids to understand that adults cry too. Kids should know it’s ok to express emotions like sadness. I wish my husband knew that too:)
Make sure you tell your baby lotion story in the Oreck giveaway- you could win a vacuum/steamer for your hardship! That would probably cheer you up too… 🙂
This is exactly why the incident cheered me up. This was the first time I have seen Mazzy really register that something was wrong with anyone other than herself. It’s been a tough road trying to get her to understand when I am angry or hurt. When I get mad, she often tries to flip it really fast with a big shit-eating grin and says, “You happy now, Mommy?” Nope, not exactly.
But this reaction was totally an appropriate big girl response.
Yay for not raising serial killers!
I know- I just about died when I captured that picture. Babies are the best though because they will cuddle with you all day… hope you are feeling better!
Does your son know my doctor? Because that exact conversation goes down with my OB’s receptionist all the time…
I know. It’s really hard to stay sad when someone so adorable is trying their damnedest to cheer you up. Probably not a good enough reason to have a kids, but a healthy argument for keeping them!
Mazzy has not typically shown remorse for things that make mad or hurt, so it was really nice to see her show concern when it was through no fault of her own. At least the kid cares when it doesn’t apply to her!
How very sweet!
It was definitely a big deal when ours made the big step of offering over her very favorite thing (I think her blankie was possibly more important to her than we were) in the world to someone who was sad.
That made me cry, I cried pretty hard actually but that could be pregnancy hormones. I recently started reading your blog due to Allison over at MotherhoodWTF’s glowing recommendation. And I have not been disappointed. There really is nothing sweeter than a kid wanting to make you feel better, glad it worked 🙂