The Prickly Part of Growing Up

I was tempted to name this post as 'Growing Pains' but that would be tres cliched and I wasn't sure if I'd already named MLM's vaccination as a growing pain in the past ergo..

He turned 2 1/2 yesterday and was due for his last vaccination as a preschooler. So off we went to the hospital this evening. The pediatric wing has a play area that looks something like this-

Needless to say, courtesy that play area he gets suckered into going to the doctor each time it's required. Of course as long as needles aren't involved he quite likes the visits as well. The doctor's desk has all sorts of paraphernalia that likes to get his hands on and as it is, I always have more to yak up with his docs that they have to with him. They barely spend 5 minutes with him and more time fielding my questions. Blame it on being a yakkety-almost-paranoid-mother.

Anyhow, today was the day of two vaccines and the people in the vaccination department decided to prick him at the same time in each thigh. Needless to say it did not go down well with him. One thing I've noticed about my child from the time he was about a day old- he has a loud set of pipes!
These ouchies however made him very angry and also hurt his feelings into the bargain. By the time we left the hospital he was majorly angry and it took a goodish time to calm him down. It took cajoling, coaxing, admonishment and a trip to the KFC drive-through :)
(I should mention that MLM, while a slightly fussy eater, has no problems eating the popcorn chicken from KFC and can devour a large packet all by his lonesome!)

While leaving the hospital we took Red's car while mine (again Red's) was still in parking. Once the offspring was sufficiently calmed down we drove back and transferred him along with a few morsels of the chicken into my car and strapped him into the car seat. And we were homeward bound. All was going well until...you guessed it, he ran out of the chicken. And then, the anger, the disappointment and frustration arose doubly and he was howling my ear off all the way till our apartment. The worst thing was the amount of time I was stuck in traffic while his shrieks grew louder and louder from the backseat. I was tempted to lean on the horn to get the guys in front to move although I knew they wouldn't be able to budge an inch!

The moment we pulled into the parking, he was reunited with his father, his chicken (or as he calls it- chinkan) and the tantrums abated just as suddenly as they had started. My ears were still ringing and I was mentally making a note to tell the KFC guys to have a bucket-version of the same item just for lil weirdos like my kid!

Now all's calm on the western front. They chinkan's been eaten. Oswald's on the telly and he's glued to the sofa like his life depends on it.
And THAT ladies and gentlemen is how this post came to be :)

G'nite