Sweetie vs. The Pinchy Medicine - Sweetie wins!

Sweetie had her 5 year old checkup on Monday, complete with 4 immunization shots. She was deemed healthy and happy - all is well! She even ranked as the very first 5 year old in that office to actually complete both the hearing and eye sight tests (I guess most kids don't "get it" enough to follow directions properly). 

Sweetie weighs 39 lbs (putting her in the 37 percentile for her age) and is just over 44 inches tall (putting her in the 75 percentile for her age). Yep - she's tall and thin, which is perfectly fine with us. Better to have the numbers skewed that way than the opposite. Still - it wouldn't hurt her to eat a bit more!

Speaking of hurt - I didn't tell her ahead of time about the shots she'd be getting at the end of her visit. I didn't tell her, in fact, until the nurses came in the room and Sweetie wondered what they were carrying.

I told Sweetie that she had to get some medicine, but it was medicine that tasted really, really bad - so she'd have to get it a different way.

What way, Mama?

Well, they're going to give it to you through little pinches.

Even this info didn't seem to terribly concern Sweetie. And then, as a nurse on either side of her swabbed her arms in preparation for the needle pricks, Sweetie just looked on in somewhat disinterested curiosity. 

And then the aforementioned pinches. 1-2-3-PINCH 1-2-3- PINCH. Four shots, two nurses, two double whammies in each arm.

Owey, owey, owey!

Yeah, she cried. No, she wasn't happy about the downward turn of events this otherwise benign visit had taken. But all in all - Sweetie did great! She was given lots of stickers for her bravery as well as an entire Easter Basket left at Nana's house the day before. With all those treats, and lots of hugs and encouragement, Sweetie was tear-free by the time we left the exam room.

Still - her left arm has been sore from the tetanus shot right up until today. And Sweetie hasn't been shy about explaining where her rainbow sticker on her coat came from either.

I went to the doctors the other day and they gave me pinchy medicine in my arms, so I got this sticker to help me feel better.

Then tonight, right before her bath:

My arm's feeling better today, Mama, so I can take my Band-Aids off. But I'm scared because I don't want to see the pinchy medicine underneath the Band-Aids.

Hmmmm.... that whole medicine-via-pinches thing was completely an on-the-fly explanation I came up with. But obviously, Sweetie took note.

I was so proud of her for enduring her shots so very well, and I made sure to tell her as much right away.

I definitely think Sweetie is proud of herself too. She had a great check up, and she's doing great. She's one healthy, smart and social little girl.

Way to go, Sweetie! Great job!