5 cents and 4 shots

Braden went to see nurse-practitioner Julie today at the pediatrician's office for his 4 year well child check-up. I told him yesterday that we would be going today, and his biggest concerns were having the doctor check his ears and lying back on the table (I think he was having dentist office flashbacks from Wednesday). Then, I told him that he would be getting a couple of shots, and of course, that scared him even more. We talked about it, though, and he remembered that when he got his flu shot a couple of months ago, that it was just a "little hurt" and really no big deal. I stressed the fun stuff - getting sparkly Band-Aids, a sticker, and of course, seeing how big he is. He's been waiting and waiting to be 40 lbs. so he can have a booster seat in Daddy's car.

Anyway... We were good to go with a promise that if he behaved nicely and let the nurses do their job, that we would eat lunch anywhere he wanted afterward. Well... Everything was hunky-dory (he even wrote his name on the exam table paper so Nurse Julie could see) until it was time for the shots. He yelled in pain when the nurse wiped his thigh with the alcohol pad. I guess it was really cold? I didn't do a good enough job of holding him down on the table to keep him still, so the nurse left to get another nurse to come help. Sigh... I then successfully pinned him down while they gave him four separate shots. He was crying and screaming, "No!" the whole time and saying, "Mommy! Help!" It was horrific. I thought I was going to start crying right along with him! :( Thankfully, it was over fairly quickly. He was pretty shaken up and sore right after, and said that he just wanted to get Chick-fil-A from the drive-thru and eat it at home. Poor boy. I felt so bad for him. The receptionist at the check-out would only give him one sticker, even though he asked for two (he got two at the dentist, so I guess he thought that was the norm). I would have given him the whole roll!

I decided he deserved to get to do something at least a little fun, so we went through the automatic car wash on the way to Chick-fil-A. That made things much better (they pass out suckers, you know). Plus, our sweet, friendly lady was working the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A, and gave him three mints! When we got home, he needed help getting out of the car because his leg was so sore. He ate his lunch, though, and felt MUCH better after we took off all the sparkly Band-Aids.

He talked to PawPaw about his doctor visit (on the phone) and said, "I heard my heartbeep." Then we Skyped PawPaw and Nanny a little later and he said, "I got 5 cents and 4 shots!" (I had told him he got 5 vaccines). Then they asked how much he weighed, and he said, "75 bucks." So, now I guess I need to figure out if our carseat will accomodate a child who weighs 75 bucks. :) He actually weighed 37 pounds, so no booster seat just yet. The seat in David's car goes up to 40 lbs., so when he hits that mark, we'll switch to the booster. My car has the swanky Britax Marathon, which goes up to 65 lbs., so we're good to go for another couple of years in that one.

It was a stressful morning. Thankfully, when you're 4, it doesn't take much to make you feel better (just a sticker, a ride through the car wash, a sucker, and a nice lady passing out mints). :)