5 year appointment

What is it with my kids and shots?  Yikes!  Yesterday was Christian’s 5 year well check.  It had been rescheduled from a few weeks ago because he had some nasty stomach bug.  I actually think Christian was glad to be vomiting instead of going to his doctor appointment.  Well yesterday it finally caught up with him.  And for anyone that’s had 5 year olds, this is the well check that has tons of shots --  5 to be exact.  You get all your remaining vaccinations before school starts.  And its a big, looming deal.  So big, that our clinic has a special “5 year old only” drawer for surprises afterwards (a measly sticker just doesn’t cut it when your talking multiple shots).

A few days before he had already started his weeping about the thought of shots.  The whole flu shot ordeal was still too fresh in his memory.   So at the time we talked about different ways to handle it.  We told him he could pretend to be Luke Skywalker and have the force with him.  We told him he could laugh and giggle about it and get the nurse all confused.  We told him any ridiculous story to get his mind off this appointment so he could relax for a few more days.

Shot Day came and after a few tears, he was ready to face up to it.  After the first one, this strange little noise came from him… a slight cry, or maybe a little laugh.   My sweet little guy was trying to giggle about it through his tears.  Shot #1 got an “ouch ouch ouch.”  Between shot #2 and #3 – he asked the nurse, “could I please have another one?”  Shot #4 brought a whimper and a “that didn’t hurt at all”  Shot #5 got a laugh/cry and a “this is sooo funny to me.”  But through it all he really was crying – kind of -  but I knew he was trying so hard  to be brave. 

To hear him tell the story now is even funnier.  He omits the whimpering/crying part and only tells us how he laughed in the face of these shots!  How he was this tough dude asking for another. 

His retelling sure has left Campbelle in awe.

Seriously, you wouldn’t want to mess with this big 5 year old brute would you??