Reality Injection

So, the kids weren't up-to-date on their shots and needed physicals for school. I already had
an appointment for Greta, so I asked if they could fit the other two in at the same time.

This was a big mistake.

It was a little tricky coralling baby while big sisters got their hearing and eyesight checked, but the real trouble didn't start until they whipped out the needles. Why didn't it occur to me that getting shots for three children at the same time would not be fun? Evelyn got completely bent out of shape and tried to refuse to have them. When it came to it, she was brave, didn't cry but hid in the corner for Greta and Clem's shots. Greta was not at all brave. Clem was a trooper. But even though she had her head in the corner, Evelyn was going green at the gills. Everything
would have been ok, had not the next words come.

"Now it's over to the lab for blood work."

Clem went first. Brave girl. Then Ev. The nurse dug and dug for that vein and Evelyn was really brave. At one point she said, "It feels like Clementine pinching me as hard as she can." But when the nurse came up dry and said she had to try the other arm, well, that is when the wailing began. Greta started to wail for good measure. I called for the most experienced nurse.
The kindest woman in the world came to the rescues. Thankfully, she made good on her pinkie promise to make it not hurt if Ev held still. Maybe she had allergies, but I think she actually cried because Evelyn was so distraught. That made two of us.

If Evelyn turned sallow at the shots she was pea green after the blood draw. I tried to take her for the urine sample but she could hardly walk, so she had a rest on the couch while I helped Clem. We made it out of there, but not before Greta had secured herself a urine sample jar of her own to press between people's legs.

Home. We pulled into the driveway. Just enough time to pack things up and head to the park for homeschool creative writing club.

And then Clem slammed Greta's fingers in the car door.