"I didn't like the shocks."

Emily had her 4-year-old checkup today. She is usually great at the doctor's office. She's such an easygoing kid and she doesn't mind getting her ears checked or temperature taken or anything like that. She hopped right onto the scale ("Mom! I weigh "firty-eight" pounds!) and suffered through getting her blood pressure taken twice because the nurse pushed the wrong button on the machine. But then the nurse did the finger prick to get a blood sample to test her hemoglobin. Well, she was NOT happy about that. She cried, "Mommy, the poke hurt very badly!" I finally got her calm and she had a nice visit with the doctor, who said that Emily is growing well and she looks really healthy. Then she told me that Emmy was due for four immunizations. If I'd had any idea that it was going to be nearly 20 minutes before the nurse came back, I wouldn't have said anything to Emily. But when the doctor left the room I told Emmy that she was going to get another poke. I didn't want to use the word "shot" because she was already upset and I didn't want to make it worse. And that was probably good thinking, because the word "poke" was VERY upsetting to her. She immediately started crying, "I didn't like the poke! I don't want any more pokes!" I'd calm her down and then she'd start crying again. This from the child who, at her 3-year checkup, barely blinked for the shots! She just looked down at her arm, looked at the nurse, and said, "Thank you." But this year, trauma!! The poor kid was hysterical after getting the four shots. I couldn't get her calm so I offered for her to call Daddy. She said that would help so we gave him a call. As soon as I handed her the phone, she started crying again: "Daddy, I had to get four shocks. I didn't like the shocks!" The good news is that she won't have to get any more "shocks" until she's 11 years old!