A Father’s Log - The Flu Shot November 30, 2006
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I had run out of excuses to avoid watching Samantha get jabbed in the leg with a needle and my wife had me cornered. No where to run, no where to hide this time. So last Monday, there I was, Samantha in tow, at the doctors office. Samantha, still to young to associate the experience of being stabbed with the doctor’s office, was all smiles, which made my job all the more harder. As we were finally called into the office, I swear I heard a funeral dirge playing somewhere. I looked down at Sam as she looked at me. “Here goes nothing kid!”, I said to her as we passed the threshold of no return. She replied by sticking her tongue out and blowing a raspberry. If only I had her steel fortitude, her composure under fire, her ability to laugh in the face of impending doom!
I was instructed to sit down, raise up Samantha’s pant leg and hold her on my lap. While doing so, I couldn’t help but to compare my lap to the sacrificial alter from the days of yor. The nurse, with a quick wipe of alcohol, reached way back and jabbed Samantha in the leg. I couldn’t see Samantha’s face at the time for two reasons. Firstly due to her back being towards me and secondly cause I was looking away. But I did feel her go rigid at the point of stainless steel impact. In the 1 second following the brutal infant right of passage, I thought to myself “Wow, she’s not crying!”. Naivety can be considered one of my strong points at times and this was one of those times. The first half second was in fact the time it took for the sudden pain to register in Samantha’s brain, the next half second was Samantha filling her lungs to extreme proportions. What happened next would be permanently etched in my mind. Samantha let out the loudest and most shrill scream I have ever heard. It seemed to go on for a millennium before it subsided, and when it did I was quite relieved that my hearing had only been temporarily impaired. I turned her around to cuddle her and all I saw were tears…..such little tears….the next sound I heard was my own heart breaking.
Shots aside; she’s now giving her doctors office a sideways glare when we pass it, Samantha has what is called an oral fixation. She will spend countless hours making rather unique sounds with her mouth. At times she almost sounds like R2D2 from Star Wars. One sound which has been coming out of her mouth lately isn’t so unique and that is Dadadadadadadadadada, and I couldn’t be more proud.
Is it fair that most children say Daddy before Mommy, considering that the Mommy is the one that had all the pain and work during labour? Far be it from me to chastise mother nature, and at least the Mothers out there can experience the joys of child bearing, while us poor fathers are relegated to watch, come to think of it, it’s very fair after all! 
You may also want to read these last 5 posts in Personal Note
- Getting in touch with my roots - March 22nd, 2010
- Almost 2 long years! - March 19th, 2010
- A father's log: First day on the butt - June 29th, 2008
- Another addiction - June 21st, 2008
- A Father's Log: Little Ninja - June 21st, 2008
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- Posted in : Personal Note
- Author :Sean
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