Immunization...

Taking a little break from Sodiere Hot Springs to let you know that Ayana and Moses had their first round of "catch up" immunizations today.
I don't know how you feel about immunizations, (I have a couple of friends that don't "agree"), but I have to say that I feel it is a privilege to be able to have a shot and be immunized from a childhood disease. When you see kids dying from very preventable things in third world countries, I think that we are so lucky to have the luxury of protecting our children. There, that is my only rant I promise...I could go on, but I won't.
I started the morning with them both in the bath getting washed with divine Winnie The Pooh soap, the smell is so delicious and they looked adorable in new little outfits. I wanted them to look great for their first trip to Public Health.
Of course, they had other plans and Moses did an explosive diarrhea diaper just minutes before we needed to leave, covering his entire outfit and Ayana had an accident (very rare actually) and was crying because she was wet. Needless to say, they were put into whatever was clean and ready to grab out of the closet and they didn't smell too sweet. Such is parenting.

When it was our turn, the nurse was trying to talk to Ayana, and she was saying "Ow" (not sure of spelling) which means "yes" in Amharic, but the nurse thought that she was scared and was saying "ow" for pain. She was repeatedly telling her everything would be OK, and she kept telling me how brave Ayana was. Eventually I just had to tell her that Ayana was actually just saying "yes" to everything and wasn't really aware that she was getting shots because I can't explain that to her yet.
Then Ayana said "shinti" which means that she needs to go to the bathroom. I was putting Moses into the stroller and so couldn't get to her right away and Ayana kept saying shinti and the nurse kept saying, "yes, shh for the sleeping babies, shh" Again I had to say that she meant bathroom, it was funny.
Ayana really screamed the place down and would only be comforted by sitting in my lap with her face buried into my shoulder...sobbing "mama, mama"
Although I was sad that she was hurting, I was happy to see her look to me for comfort and reassurance.
Moses did his famous grin in between shots and the nurse and student nurse both said that children don't usually smile and coo during immunizations. He then promptly screamed so loud for his next shot that my ears hurt.
He did enjoy batting a little bell right out of the nurses hands though, the sound it made as it rolled away was highly entertaining for him. He also enjoyed chewing up and spitting out the schedule for their next shots.
The nurse was really wonderful and so helpful and lovely with the kids, she made the whole experience as positive as a trip to the clinic could be. I have her card to specifically request her next time.
So, that was my day.