Page 8 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

Kate shook her head and wiped at the tear in her eye, she was laughing so hard. “You’re making that up.”

“I wish. Trust me, I really wish, but you can’t make that crap up. I got home, showered because if I was that grossed out talking to the people, who the heck knows what they’ve touched.”

“Boogers,” Kate added. “Not like you don’t see your fair share of them. Especially this time of year.”

“Tell me about it. Yesterday I think I had six kids in here with snot dripping out of their noses the whole time.”

“Fall weather,” Kate said. They heard some more voices outside the break room they were in. “And I probably should go see what is lined up for the day.”

Gabriella moved over to fill up her water bottle, then set it on the tray that would hold the laptop she took with her as she moved room to room.

“I’m right behind you.”

She ducked into her office, sat at her desk, and loaded up the schedule for the day. There were four open slots for her she was positive would be filled the minute the office lines were open. There was no nurse practitioner on today. If Kristine was off, they just did without because it was too hard to get someone to fill in unless they could borrow one from another department.

Didn’t look as if that was possible today.

She put her laptop on the tray next to her water bottle, slipped her lab coat on over her green sweater, put her stethoscope around her neck, and then left her office to head toward the first exam room, knowing that Kate was fast.

The first patient was here for routine shots anyway, so they would be prepped.

The minute her computer dinged with the update, she was good to go and it meant Kate had updated vitals.

She opened the door and saw the toddler sitting on his mother’s lap. “Hi, Levi. I’m Dr. Gabriela.”

The little boy buried his head into his mother’s shoulder. Going to be one of them, but it was not like she hadn’t dealt with it before.

“Hi, I’m Stacy. Levi’s mom.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I see Levi is here for his checkup and shot.”

“Yes. We normally see Kristine for that, but it’s nice to see the doctor.”

“They rearranged the schedule because Kristine is off today. Let’s go through some of Levi’s development skills.”

She ran through the questions: how big was his vocabulary, can he focus on more than one toy at a time, did he imitate others.

Everything was going well, just like she always wanted to hear.

“Levi,” Stacy said. “Can you show the doctor your nose?”

Levi turned to face her, but didn’t move from his mother’s lap. He pointed to his nose.

“Good job,” she said. “Where are your toes?”

They went through multiple body parts. She pulled a book off the shelf, and asked if he knew which one was the bird, then a dog.

“He’s really smart,” Stacy said.

“Yes, he is. How about his motor skills? Running, kicking, stacking blocks or toys?”

“He does it all. He’s very active.”

She was typing into the computer. “He seems shy. How about with other adults or children?”

Stacy’s head went back and forth. “He doesn’t really go to anyone other than me or my husband. Not even his grandparents much. He only sees them a few times a year.”

“That’s normal for this age. He’s not around any other children?” she asked.