Chloe at the Doctor

A month or so ago, Chip and I had this conversation:

"Chip, you know it's time for Chloe to have her five-year check-up and she has to get SHOTS so you need to make that appointment and take her."
"I know."

I took Connor to one doctor's appointment once that involved shots. It was about seven and a half years ago, and I swore I would never do it again. They're so heartbroken when the nurse sticks those needles in! I don't want to be associated with that in my kids' minds! Plus it makes me cry, and that doesn't really help anyone calm down in a tense situation.

A few days before the appointment, I warned Chloe what was going to happen. She's too old for us to just spring that on her at the last minute- she would feel too betrayed by that. Besides, she's our logical child and I trusted her to make sense of it in her mind ahead of time. And it seemed like she did! Sure she cried when I first told her, but then she worked on coming to terms with it. She talked to us and to her teachers and to anyone who would listen about how, on Thursday, she was going to have CLUE and then have her shots and then have an Easter egg hunt in our back yard. That was her treat for dealing with the indignity of shots- her own egg hunt that Connor didn't get to take part in. (He helped me hide the eggs instead.)

Chip and Chloe had a grand time with Dr. Davis Thursday afternoon. After talking to her a bit, he determined that, "She's definitely ready for kindergarten!" Her weight, 52 pounds, is in the 95th percentile for her age. Her height, 4 feet exactly, is off the chart. Way above the 99th percentile. (Although really, it seems like there's not very much room above 99th. But I won't argue.) Chip texted me that things were going fine.

And then the needles arrived.

Apparently, and I don't really have all the details, there was hysterical wailing and thrashing about, and then Chip tried to distract her with candy and she choked on it, and eventually they had to call in several people to help hold her down while the shots went in. GOOD TIMES.

By the time she and her dad stopped at Baskin-Robbins and made it home for the Easter egg hunt, she was all smiles. She even laughed about what a fit she'd thrown! And that, my friends, is why Chip is in charge of taking the kids for their vaccinations.