The appointment is over and the nurse offers Katie a sticker. It has a horse on it.
She tells the nurse, "I don't want 'dat sticker!" and she throws it in the trash. "I want a toy!"
Holy crap. In shock, I stand there like an idiot.
The nurse calmly replies that she doesn't have any toys. Katie requests another sticker.
It's another horse.
"I don't WANT 'DAT STICKER!"
I snap to. "Katie. There are no toys. Just stickers. Please, let me have it. That wasn't nice."
I take the horse sticker away in the off chance that she'll just forget about it. I begin to stick it in my pocket.
"NO! I don't WANT to take it home!"
She grabs the sticker out of my pocket and throws it in the trash.
"That's it! We are leaving now." I say. Trying to remain as calm as I can in the face of such blatant craziness.
The nurse tells me she's sorry as Katie throws herself on the floor and beginning to cry. "Oh, no. I'M sorry," I mumble.
I scoop her up as gently as I can, pretty hard to do when she is kicking and screaming, and leave the office.
We have a little sit-down in the hallway which of course is crowded with about a million parents with well behaved toddlers. Katie is still screaming at me, "NO! NO! NO!"
I plop her into the nearest chair.
"That was not nice. All the nurse had were stickers. If you didn't want the sticker you should have said, 'No, thank you.' and handed it back. So, we're going to leave now and go home."
"I don't wanna go home." Sniffle. Sniffle.
The worst is over. The screaming has subsided.
"We're going home."
Then Katie looks up at me and says, "I already HAVE a sticker."
There's a small Snow White sticker on her jacket.
I sigh.
We leave.
