"That" face

Every parent knows their child's facial expressions like the back of their hand from as early as 6 weeks (before then, babies just have that "I'm not sure I wanna be here" look most of the time). And every parent knows "that" face- the one that happens when your child is hurting or scared. Jennie makes that face whenever our two dogs bark loudly and startle her or she gets hurt. Jake and I had to see "that" face again on Wednesday when we took Jennie to her 4 month check up and of course had to do vaccinations. Three of them to be exact. So we prepared ourselves and each of us grabbed one of Jennie's little hands while the nurse administered the shots into her thighs. Between "that" face and the screams, it's enough to make even the toughest parent flinch. When Jennie makes that face, her whole mouth turns down and her forehead gets all wrinkly from frowning. At her 2 month check up when her vaccinations started, she stopped crying immediately after I picked her up off the doctor's table. We weren't so lucky this time- she cried the whole time getting her dressed, into the car seat, waiting for the (impossibly slow) secretary to write a receipt for our co-pay and all the way out the door. This may just be me being a parent, but I would think there has to be a different way to get these vaccines into children. I'm definitely a supporter of them, but just wish we as parents didn't have to watch our kids suffer like that. Oh well...one day, hopefully Jennie's kids won't have to make "that" face, or any face, when they are getting vaccinated. But knowing that Jennie is healthy and protected from preventable diseases is all that matters. I'll watch her make any face, as long as she is around to do it