This afternoon I took Tater to his pediatrics appointment for the flu vaxx, but no dice — he was game enough about going to the clinic, the pre-examination and waiting, but once it was his turn he absolutely refused despite the nurse's and my efforts. He ultimately left me in the hospital and took off on his own, the lil rascal 💢

I stuck it out in the waiting room for about 20 more minutes in case he came back, then gave up and tracked his movements from a park bench until his trajectory took him toward the big shopping center where he likes to wander around. I got there ahead of him by taking the metro and caught up to him in front of the store. We spent a little time hanging out in the shopping center as usual, then had dinner at a noodle place. My husband joined us after watching a movie nearby.

Later, while we waited for the bus home, I suggested Tater wear a mask in school until the end of flu season since injection was too much for him at this point, and he seems eager enough about the idea so we'll try to mitigate risk this way instead 🤷‍♀️ My husband and I will both get flu shots ourselves, of course. Maybe Tater will come around to injections at some point like he has with professional haircuts and dental examinations, who knows. Until then, we'll have to resort to reasonable workarounds short of life-and-death situations.

@ljwrites i think you made the right choice here — not feeling in control of the situation made my own issues with needles a *lot* worse. while it sucks that he wont be vaccinated against the flu this year, hopefully knowing he can say no will give him a better shot at being able to accept other vaccines in the future