My Least Favorite Part of Being a Parent

While there are many great things about being a parent, there certainly are the less-glamorous parts of the job.  Poopy diapers, slobber, babies that don't sleep through the night, and the stress and pressure of raising a happy, healthy, well-adjusted child are just a few of the lowlights.  What I hate the most, though, are the doctor's visits.

Our doctor is great - she is a very sweet lady who takes very good care of Gizmo and is patient enough to answer all of my new-parent questions.  Gizmo is well-behaved and doesn't mind stripping down, getting on that scale (sixteen pounds today!) and being poked and prodded.  In fact, today she cooed and tried to grab the stethescope from the doctor.  The worst part, of course, were the shots.  

Vaccinations.  Yuck.  I hate getting them, and I hate to watch Gizmo get them.  But, I am not one of those granola-crunching, flower-skirt wearing hippy moms who believes vaccinations are giving our kids autism, so she's getting them.  Today was her second round of vaccinations, and it gets worse every time she gets them.  It's so hard as a parent to watch your happy infant go from smiling, to confusion, to sheer terror and pain.  Four times.  The tears streamed down her chubby cheeks as she looked at me, all the time thinking "Why would you do this to me?"  Thank goodness she doesn't know what's going on before she gets them, because as we sat in the waiting room today you could hear the screams of the unhappy children getting their shots so that they can avoid getting polio or diptheria, whatever that is.  The doctor's office is almost a torture chamber of sorts, kids filing in only to be stabbed with needles to keep them healthy.   Poor kids.  

I can remember as a child going to the doctor's office to get our regular school check-ups (and vaccinations) and vividly remember Winnie running around without pants on away from the doctor, she was so unhappy to get that shot in her butt.  I dread the day Gizmo starts to do this.  At least Gizmo has some cute Joe Cool band-aids to help her heal and some Baby Tylenol to keep the fever down.

By the way, Gizmo is in the 95% for her height and weight.  Such an overachiever.