Vaccines, part II]
K writes: So this time, Oliver was prepared. We had a long discussion on the way to the doctor's about how he had to get a second flu shot, and that he needed to be brave, and not cry. He kept repeating over and over that "Stella will get a flu shot. Not Oliver." I explained to him that he needed to get it so that he would NOT get the flu, which would give him "a puke." He then went into a long inquiry as to whether daddy had had a flu shot, and whether he would get a puke, and whether mommy had had a flu shot and she would get a puke.
We arrive. The kids play in the play area. The nurse calls our names. Oliver stands in the play area, staring at the door, not willing to go there. I finally get him down the hall and he lingers outside the room, not willing to go in. The nurse comes in and asks him if he’d like his shot in his arm or his leg. Oliver responds: "nowhere?" She tells him that's not an option. He chooses his arm. I remind him he needs to be brave and not cry. And it was so sad. She stabbed in the arm and his face all crumpled up and big tears came out, but he did NOT yell. And then he put his big crumpled, teary face on my chest, and said in a big weepy voice, "was I brave? Did I not cry? Can I have cake?" (a promised reward if he was brave).
Stella performed in a way that is now becoming routine. The nurse stabbed her in the leg. Stella let out an angry grunt. Stella threw her shoe at Oliver, and beat me on the leg with both her hands in a total rage.
They were then told they could have stickers. Oliver runs to the sticker drawer in the main office, and is immediately stricken that he can’t find any Wall-e stickers. He quizzes the entire nursing staff about where they’ve hidden the Wall-e stickers, because they DID have wall-e stickers, don’t they remember, and finally after ten minutes of digging by half the office, he emerges with a M-O sticker. Stella is given a Spongebob sticker, and since she’s still pissed off, stuffs the entire thing in her mouth in an act of defiance, leans forward and growls (literally) at the nurses. This elicited a suitably freaked-out response from one of the nice ladies—who looked a little mortified that she was being physically threatened by a 15-month-old, and one clearly deranged enough to eat Spongebob—and this reaction mollified Stella somewhat, who lightened up, and by the end actually said "ta oo" (thank you).
On the way home, I am informed by Oliver that cake is not a good enough reward for getting a flu shot, and that a Kit Kat would be more like it. I stop at the little store and get them both one. I give them both their candy bars to hold, and start driving again. Stella wants to eat hers immediately, and when I glance back and tell her she had to wait until after lunch, she glares and throws it at the back of my head.
[Part one is here.]
Stella is my hero.