Yesterday Audrey and Grace got shots - it sort of ruined their Saturday as you might expect. For my wife and I it's always hard to subject our kids to such barbaric things but it was also interesting because, for the first time, Audrey was old enough to figure out what's going on inside that little room that has fluorescent lighting, a long table covered with paper and a red box on the wall that reads "Biohazard" (she can't read that yet but I generally think it's pretty creepy). We had to have a sit down to fill her in about the "pinch" she would feel and of course had to promise to take her to 7-11 for a Slurpee afterward. Amazingly she closed her eyes so she didn't have to watch and staved off tears the entire time, despite the nurse being extremely slow about it all.
For poor unsuspecting Grace it's an immediate mood change when that sharp object punctures her leg. She goes from a happy two-month-old goes innocently gazing around the room to a cherry red screaming baby in seconds. When you're at the pediatrician's office you hear these baby sirens sounding up and down the hallways as babies get jabbed in their legs - it can be a bit disconcerting. The hectic nature of it all, including the exam in which Grace gets poked and probed all over the place, makes her exhausted for the remainder of the day and often for a couple days afterward.
Amazing how resilient kids are though - both girls are now fascinated, especially Audrey, by the round Tweety Bird band-aids on each of their legs. I wonder what it will be like when I have to pull those off.
