My kids better not get the flu...

...after the agony of their vaccines today!

Kids react differently to getting shots. Some kids freak out, others don't even shed a tear. When I was little, I took the threatening approach. I would say 'I'm going to tell my Daddy what you did'. In my mind, my Dad would come kick the pediatrician's ass if he gave me that shot! My younger brother, Devin, took the delay approach. He would say 'Wait, I just have to tell my mom one more thing'. Postponing the inevitable.

I can now add Ryan to the mix of 'quotable quotes' at the pediatrician. We went for flu-shots today...and I made a few parental mistakes:

1. I told them about the shots before we got there. Bad idea. They were tense from the minute we walked in. Ryan asked why he had to get a shot. I told him that if he didn't get the shot, he could get the flu and be very sick. His response 'I want to be very sick'.

2. I let Allie go first. I struggled with this decision. I thought Allie, as the almost 5yo big sister, would react better and thus show Ryan that it wasn't so bad. I was wrong. Very, very, very wrong.

Allie screamed as they wiped her arm with the alcohol swab to clean it. This set Ryan off as well. I held Allie down...trying to keep both of them from shattering any glass with their shrieking. I was certain all of the dogs in the area would come running. It was that bad. Allie relaxed after a minute or two which allowed me to focus on restraining Ryan. As soon as the nurse came near him with the needle, he started yelling 'DON'T SHOT ME! DON'T SHOT ME!' There it is. His own little phrase which I will re-tell him about until he is at least 34.5 years old (as my mom re-told me mine tonight). Ryan was a bit more dramatic, even walking out with a limp because of the 'boo-boo on his leg'. He told me at bedtime that he might not be able to sleep because of his boo-boo (he was snoring about 3 seconds after his head hit the pillow!)

I'm about ready for a shot of my own...