Friday Lukas had his 3 year check-up with the pediatrician. We've been talking about it for a while because his first question was "am I going to get a shot?". He has not had a shot since he was 2, and I'm surprised he remembers any of that. I told him that the nurse would be giving him a flu shot. He wasn't too excited about that. We brought "Frog" with us (he's so clever when it comes to naming his stuffed animals) and Frog endured many check-ups and medical procedures before the doc came to see us. Earlier in the year the doc had some concerns about a heart murmur, but at this visit he described it as "musical, benign". So, no worries there. Lukas asked him lots of questions about what he was doing and "what's that?". The doc let him listen to his own heart with the stethoscope. The doc asked Lukas what he heard and Lukas said "my heart". The doc said "did it sound like a thumpthumpthumpthump or a thathump thathump?". Lukas whispers to me "what did it sound like?" and I told him I didn't hear it. The doc then made sure he could hear Lukas' heart and put the scope back in Lukas' ears. This time Lukas said he could hear it and when the doc asked how it sounded, Lukas said "fine". The doc said Lukas' verbal skills are "excellent".
Next came the dreaded flu shot. He got the shot in the thigh, then I stood him up to pull up his pants. Of course there were tears, then Lukas started in on the guilt trip. He looks at the nurse and says "Why did you do that? Why did you do that to me? I didn't want you to do that." She explained it was so he wouldn't get sick and I told him that I told the nurse to do it. He was still saying "why did you do that?". It was sad and funny. We headed out and as promised before the visit, we went to Shake[y]'s and got him an extra-thin milkshake.
I ordered the shake extra thin because some shakes are so thick that he collapses the straw and never gets a drink. I said "extra thin for my 3-year-old". They definitely made it extra thin, then put some ridiculous lid on it with an opening almost as big as the top of the cup. Next, she handed me an 18" straw for the thing. As an experienced Mom, I knew that if Lukas sat the cup straight up in his lap, the straw would be at about eyebrow level. He would have to lay it on its side to be able to get the straw to his mouth, and the shake would be in his lap. Luckily the handed over an appropriate lid & I put a buck in the tip can.
The crying over the flu shot wasn't over... 2 days later I yanked the bandaid off while Lukas cried (he was in the tub & it was flapping in the waves). The nurse hadn't been able to tell where she poked him when she applied the bandaid and had put the sticky part on the injection site. I think if you can't tell where the boo-boo is, you don't need a bandaid.
