Kindergarten and Shots

Today was N's doctor visit to get his Kindergarten physical and immunizations. I can't believe my baby's getting ready to go to K-garten...Or at least I think we're going to send him..... I've been agonizing over sending him next year or holding him back one year. Due to his summer birthday he will only be five years old for a few weeks before the start of the school year. Our Kindergarten is full day. I really struggle with a five year old (a young five year old at that) being in school for seven hours. I'm concerned that he will get tired and lose his ability to concentrate/sit still which could then lead to behavioral problems. He's a really good kid and he's even better for teachers and those of "authority," but I'm still concerned with the length of the day.

Because we're so on the fence about it, we've decide to buy ourselves some time to make the decision. I'm making the effort to have options set in place so we can make our decision at the end of the summer. A lot of growth can take place over the course of three months. If N matures socially and behaviorally this summer, then we will send him to K-garten in the fall. If he's not ready, he'll repeat preschool one more year. I've got a spot reserved for him at his current preschool and I'd sign him up for one more additional day of "school" at our Park District. That way we'd work towards more days of school in a row. Our Park District does offer a four day per week preschool program that's longer than other preschools and it is specifically geared towards preparing kids for a full day of kindergarten, but that program costs four times the amount his preschool costs! Eeek! I can see this program being very beneficially to our community, but we'll have to forego that option unless they can figure out a way to lower the price.

As I said above, I'm doing all the things required for Kindergarten registration. Therefore N had to get a physical and immunizations. Today was that day. My friends may have noticed that I've been psyching myself up for this day more than I had to psych N up for this.. All Mom's know that Mom worries more about the shots than the kids do. I asked all of my friends who have children already in Kindergarten how they prepared their kids for the shots. Did they space out the shots, did they get them all at once? From the time the boys were newborns, I decided to space out their shots. I've always felt it wasn't right to give multiple (more than two) shots at once because I don't like the idea of putting so many viruses and chemicals (preservatives) in a child's body at one time. It just seems like too much at one time...Well, I got to thinking about it and realized that the fact that N is now old enough to comprehend how it feels to get a shot and being that he's physically big enough to put up a fight, I felt I had to change my tune. I have one friend who spaced out the shots for her kindergartner and she regrets doing that. She said spreading out the shots for her four year old caused more anxiety and stress for her child than she expected. Even she, another mom who spaced out shots, said getting all three shots in one doctor's visit was the way to go. So, I decided to have all three done in one visit.

I wanted to prep N for the visit, but I didn't want to freak him out and cause unnecessary fear. So, I took the approach another friend recommended. She said play up the idea that immunizations are done to keep our bodies healthy and treat him to something good after the appointment. A few weeks ago, N saw an episode on Magic School Bus about being healthy. The episode involved the Magic School Bus and it's characters literally going inside the body and looking at how the white blood cells and red blood cells keep the body healthy. I told N that the white and red blood cells drink the "juice" in the shots and that juice make them bigger and stronger to keep his body healthy. I told him that, yes, the shots will hurt for a minute, but only for a minute and then it will all be done. I told him if he was good at his appointment we'd meet Daddy for lunch and N could pick the restaurant we ate at. He was excited! He immediately chose Pizza Hut. He's been wanting to go there for a while, so it was a no-brainer decision for him. One other friend suggested one other thing for the appointment. She said her daughter had her shots a few weeks ago and she closed her eyes and made her best mad face while she got her shots. N loved that idea, so he went along with that too.

When we arrived at the appointment N marched up to the lady who works at the front desk before we even check in and he said, "I'm getting my shots today. I'm going to close my eyes and make a mad face so I don't cry." The lady laughed and said she was proud of him for being so prepared for it. Then N went ahead and took the reward stickers she has sitting out on her desk and told her he was going to go ahead and take one because he knew he was going to be a good boy. She laughed. N was a little rock star during his appointment. Our pediatrician is so great. He made N a part of the appointment by asking him what things he should look at. "Should I look at your ears?" "What should I look at next?" And Nick would say, "You forgot my eyes" and "You should look at my nose." The pediatrician also has the kids "blow out" the light on the tools he uses to look in their eyes and their nose. The nurse did the shots at the very end of the appointment. I had to help "give N a big bear hug" (as the nurse called it) while she did them in case he fought back, but he didn't. He said ouch and flinched a tiny bit, but other than that, he did super well!! So we headed to D's work to pick him up for lunch afterwards. N loved that! He loved one on one time with both D and I and he really liked the buffet at Pizza Hut. He just loved the fact that he could walk up to the buffet, look at it and pick out whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. He really didn't over eat and I don't think he would have. He just loved making his own choice. He also liked being able to bring food to D and I. Such a cutie.