"Hi there, sweetheart," Lauren cooed, stroking Camila's arm gently to wake her up. "Dinah tucked you in real good, hmm?"

Camila had slept through the entire time the girls had been at the mall and not even flinched when Dinah had lifted her out of the push-chair and into the carseat, and so Lauren had decided to put her back into the push-chair when Dinah had dropped them off slightly early at the doctor's surgery. 

"You've had a nice long nap, haven't you, baby?" Lauren said, subtly taking Camila's pacifier when it fell out of her mouth and slipping it into her bag, knowing it was the only way Camila would actually wake up.

Camila yawned, stretching her legs out as much as she could before bringing a fist up to rub the sleep out of her eye.

"Out?" Camila asked the moment she realised she was strapped into her push-chair, moving her hand to the buckle although she couldn't undo it herself.

"Can you stay in there just until we get called in?" Lauren asked, glancing at her watch which showed it would be any minute.

"I don't like it," Camila complained, throwing her blanket onto the floor.

"We don't throw things, Camila," Lauren warned. 

"Sorry," Camila whispered, sounding genuinely apologetic and reaching down as far as she could from where she was strapped in to try and pick the blanket up herself.

"That's okay," Lauren said, softening her expression and grabbing blanket that was just out of Camila's reach. "Who else do we know who uses a pram, baby?" Lauren asked, bundling the blanket up in her lap.

"Umm....," Camila trailed off thoughtfully, trying to rack her brains.

"Someone really special, Camzi," Lauren prompted, leaning forwards over her crossed legs so she could be closer to Camila and keep her more engaged. "Who do you put in a pram when we go to the park?"

"Dolly!" Camila exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down. "I put my dolly in her pram," she said, referring to the baby doll she had which had come with a pacifier, bottle and pram.

"That's right!" Lauren smiled as Camila reached over and started playing mindlessly with the older girl's fingers. "And she's really good at sitting in her pram, isn't she?"

Camila nodded slowly.

"So can you be good at sitting in your pram for me?" Lauren asked.

"But I want milk."

"I know, angel, but my first priority when we get home is going to be getting you your bottle, okay?" Lauren promised, knowing that Camila would have usually had at least a bottle by this time. 

Camila whined but settled back in the stroller with a firm, still holding Lauren's hand which she hand now started to pull towards her mouth.

"Angel, don't do that," Lauren said, gently tugging her hand away when Camila started trying to suck on her fingers and wiping it against her jeans. "Let's see if we can get you a snack instead."

She rummaged through her bag, pulling out a packet of animal crackers and opening it before handing it to Camila.

"Here you go, doll, and don't just eat the animals you like, I expect the camels and seals to be eaten too," Lauren warned.

"Camila Cabello?" A familiar voice called out before Camila could reply to Lauren.

"Hi, we're here!" Lauren called, smiling politely at Dr. Robbins before starting to push the push-chair towards her office.

"Hi, Lauren," Dr. Robbins said warmly, closing the door behind them. "Hi there, Camila," she said in a more animated tone, bending down in front of the stroller to be at eye-level with her.

Camila didn't reply, avoiding eye-contact and reaching for her bunny.

"It's okay, you've come to see me before, remember?" Dr. Robbins said, trying to put Camila at ease.

"She's just woken up from a nap," Lauren said, leaning over to unbuckle the push-chair straps. "Angel, can you come here?"

Camila nodded, standing up and scurrying over to Lauren, letting her lift her onto the examination table.

"If you're really good, you can have a lollypop," Dr. Robbins smiled, leaning against her desk.

"Ooh, you like lollypops, don't you?" Lauren smiled, making sure Camila was settled on the table before sitting down opposite Dr. Robbins.

"So, why don't you tell me what brings you in?" Dr. Robbins asked, tapping away at her computer. 

"Camila's developed a diaper rash, and we've tried almost everything to get it to calm down," Lauren sighed. "But it's causing her a lot of pain and discomfort."

"Right, why don't I take a look," Dr. Robbins said, standing up. "Camila, can you lie on your back for me? I'm just going to take off your shorts and your diaper so I can examine your rash, is that okay?"

Camila nodded, bringing her bunny up to her face.

"Thank you," Dr. Robbins smiled. "How's school been going?" she asked as she unzipped the shorts and took them off.

"Good," Camila murmured.

"Yeah?" Dr. Robbins asked, glancing over her shoulder to confirm with Lauren.

"Uh, you've had a few challenges, haven't you, Milz?" Lauren said crossing her legs. "Can you tell Dr. Robbins why you cry when I drop you to school?"

Camila didn't reply, instead whining at the discomfort as Dr. Robbins tried to untape her diaper.

"Aw, you're a bit sore, aren't you?" she asked sympathetically as Camila fussed, pushing her hand away. 

"Honey, do you want your paci?" Lauren asked, reaching in her bag for the soother when Camila nodded.

"Okay, I'm going to try again now," Dr. Robbins told Camila once she had the soother firmly in her mouth. "Good girl," she praised once she had taken it off, despite the fact that Camila was still whining. "This does look very sore."

"I wan' Mama," Camila whimpered, slipping off the table and running over to Lauren, climbing into the older girl's lap.

"Shh, you're doing really good, baby," Lauren said, letting Camila cuddle into her. "Do you need her back on the table?"

"No, we're all good," Dr. Robbins said, sitting back down. "Like I said, I'll give you some cream for her rash but it might take a few days to go down, and I also suggest taking her nappy off at home, sometimes fresh air is the best thing for it."

"That sounds like a plan, hmm?" Lauren said, rubbing Camila's back. "Let's get you into a pull-up."

"No," Camila whined, clinging onto Lauren when the older girl tried to put her down.

"Camz, I know it's sore but I need you to wear a pull-up until we get home," Lauren said.

"Lauren, can you get Camila into a pull-up and take off her to I can quickly check her weight and height?" Dr. Robbins asked.

"Sure," Lauren nodded. "Baby, put your arms up for me,"  Lauren said, taking Camila's top off when she did.

"Mama, cold," Camila whispered.

"I know, angel, let's get this over with quickly so we can get you all nice and warm again," Lauren said as she put Camila down. She kept her top in her lap as she took out a pull-up from Camila's bag. "Put one leg in, niñita, and now the other."

"Right, are you going to stand really still or should we put you in the baby cradle again?" Dr. Robbins asked with a smile, taking Camila's hand as she led her to the other side of her office. "It's your choice, I just want to see how much you've grown."

"I'll be still," Camila said, fidgeting with the waistband of her pull-up. 

"Alright, step up here for me."

"Done?" Camila asked hopefully just a second later.

"Just a moment, darling," Dr. Robbins said, waiting for the numbers to stop changing. "Look at that; all done!"

"See? That wasn't so bad, hmm?" Lauren said as Camila skipped back to her.

"You've been excellent today, Camila," Dr. Robbins smiled. "Once Lauren gets you dressed you can choose a sticker."

"Okay," Camila said quietly, letting Lauren change her back into her shorts and top without much protest.

"Here we go," Dr. Robbins smiled, taking out a box of small toys and stickers. "Which one do you want?"

"Umm...," Camila trailed off, looking up at Lauren for help.

"There are some princess stickers here, you like princesses," Lauren said, trying to help Camila choose. "Or a little bouncy ball?"

"Lollypop?" Camila asked, remembering what Dr. Robbins had said earlier.

Dr. Robbins looked up at Lauren for approval.

"Yeah, okay, only because you've been such a little star," Lauren smiled.

"I'm going to take you out to the play area so I can have a little chat with Lauren," Dr. Robbins said, handing Camila a lollipop.

"Camz, if you're going to have a lolly then give me your paci," Lauren said, holding out her hand. 

"I wan' both," Camila insisted, handing Lauren the lollipop to open for her.

"No, if you want this you have to give me your pacifier, or else it'll be lying around catching germs," Lauren explained, taking the plastic off of the lollypop and handing it to Camila.

"Kay," Camila finally agreed, giving Camila the pacifier before going back to Dr. Robbins.

Once the small girl was settled outside under the watchful eye of the receptionist, Dr. Robbins walked back into her office and closed the door behind her.

"I thought it would be could to catch up on Camila's general progress," Dr. Robbins said as she sat down.

"Yeah, uh, she's doing okay," Lauren nodded. "We've started giving her the oral suspension medication for her ADHD, so we know she's definitely swallowing it now, but it's too soon for her teachers to have noticed a difference at school, and, uh, her appetite isn't much better but she's quite consistent with her bottles and feeds."

"The breastfeeding is definitely doing her some good, she's up from 29 and a half kilograms to 31, which is good progress," Dr Robbins said, scribbling down the numbers on Camila's chart. "How about sleeping?"

"It's still a struggle to get her into bed sometimes but for the most part she sleeps through the night and takes a nap every afternoon, although we are getting a bit worried about her pacifier dependency."

"You could try weaning her off of it, but if she's able to go a school day without it then it might be something to think about at a later stage," Dr. Robbins explained. "You'd be surprised, but she's not the only teenager I see in here with some sort of oral fixation...pacifiers, thumb or finger sucking, nail biting, I'm not saying it's good, but it's not the biggest of concerns at the moment, what with everything Camila's had to go through with her parents."

"She's also very attached to me in particular, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it makes it difficult to leave her with other people and at home it causes some tension with Dinah," Lauren explained. 

"I suppose you did meet her first, and you were the first person to really show her any love or affection," Dr. Robbins explained. "And, on top of that, you're breastfeeding her, which is bound to bring you two closer together."

"I know," Lauren sighed. "I just don't like seeing Dinah upset, but there isn't much I can do about it if Camila keeps pushing her away."

"Well, firstly I'd suggest teaching Dinah how to properly change a nappy to avoid anymore rashes," Dr. Robbins chuckled. "How about getting Dinah to play with Camila and perhaps supervising so you can encourage Camila to engage with her?"

"It's just that when I'm there, she only really wants me," Lauren explained.

Another ten minutes later, Lauren was thanking Dr. Robbins and walking outside to look for Camila, who she found sitting next to the receptionist, an elderly lady, behind her desk.

"Hi, there," Lauren smiled, walking over. 

"Mama!" Camila squealed. 

"Thank you so much for watching her," Lauren smiled as Camila ran over to her.

"My pleasure," the woman replied, giving Camila a wave. "Bye now, dear."

"Mama? Can you hold me?" Camila asked.

"Can you sit in your buggy for me?" Lauren asked hopefully, knowing it would be difficult to balance Camila on her hip while pushing the pushchair home.

"Look at my lolly," Camila said, holding it up proudly.

"That looks sugary," Lauren laughed. "C'mon, let's get you home."

***