Brains and erasers

The other day I was brushing Riley's hair, like I always do. But as I was parting his hair by the little birthmark he has on his head, I noticed that the birthmark was different. Bigger. Like it used to be a little 1/8 inch circle and now it is a 1/8 by 3/8 inch oval-ish shape. So, naturally, I freaked out. A lot. I called the dermatoligist that I saw when Violet had her eczema as a baby... he was so great with her, and I remember I could get appointments pretty quickly. I was of course hoping for a same-day appointment on Wednesday, but he wasn't in that day so I had to settle for Thursday. Of course I needed to stay off the Internet so I wouldn't obsess over the crazy things that it might have been. But I was thanking God I didn't have to wait even another day to see a doctor.

Thursday came and we got right in to see the doctor. He looked at it and told me that, even though it looks kind of different, weird looking moles are often found on the tops of people's heads. Nothing about it alarmed him, but he understood my concern, which was that I had no idea how long it had been there... it was as if it had appeared overnight. He said it was something we could watch and look for any changes, or if I thought Riley could handle it, he could just shave it off right now at the appointment. That way it would be gone and he could get it biopsied for my own peace of mind, and I would feel better. The trick was that I had to be sure to keep Riley very still so that he could remove the mole. That was going to be a challenge, since I had already told Riley this *wasn't* the doctor that had to give him shots like last time.

I had to think fast... because I knew that Riley would panic... and, indeed he did because he saw the things the nurse was bringing out and one of them looked Very Much Like a Needle. I asked the doc if he could give us a few minutes to prepare Riley, and he said that was fine. The nurse offered Riley some Nerds candy... one little snack sized box now, and another for when the procedure was all done. I took a moment to privately ask the doc what the procedure entailed and what kind of pain to expect... he said the only real pain was from the local shot, and that would be about three seconds... then he could shave off the mole in 20 seconds after that. So I prayed for the right words to explain this to Riley without making him freak... cause he was already starting to get teary-eyed from the thought of that Needle Looking Thing.

I sat Riley on my lap and I explained to him that the mole on his head was a little weird looking, and that the doctor wanted to take it off. And the way the doctor does this is by first pinching the mole with the Pincher (needle). And that sometimes hurts a tiny bit, just the way a pinch does. But it's only for the count of three... and we practiced counting to three so he could see that it wouldn't be that bad. After the pinch, the doctor would use his Special Eraser (scalpel) to Erase the mole right off his head. But that part wouldn't hurt cause erasing things doesn't hurt. I told him that the doctor would Erase for the count of twenty and we practiced counting to 20. And then it would be done! Riley was pretty close to being convinced, but he was still worried about the Pinch. So I told him that Target was right by this place and when we were done we could go there and get him something (I was thinking like from the $1 section). He said that he would be so brave that he should get Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii.

Um. OK. Whatever. (seriously! I never EVER give in to big ticket items like that! I obviously have extremely poor judgement under duress. Hopefully my kids don't read this someday and decide to take advantage of this fact)

So he was ready and so was I... the doctor came in and Riley asked him if he was sure the Pinch would only be for the count of three and the doc reassured him that, yes, it would be. So I held Riley's hand and the doc and the nurse did their thing. The Pinch was exactly the count of three! Then we started the Count of Twenty as the doc Erased off the mole... and right at Twenty, he was done! Riley was hoping for a band-aid on the top of his head, but he got a blob of antibiotic gel instead. And afterward we headed to Target where we found the game (on sale, thank goodness!) and some children's motrin.

And now it's done... we have been putting neosporin on it daily, but it's really just like a little scab now and you can't even see it under his hair. The doc will call me with results either way in about a week. I am confident that it will be fine :).

So today Riley was talking about the hole in his head and how we can see his brain if we look closely... but of course we would not want to eat his brains because they are covered in wax.

Clearly. Because you know how fattening wax is.