Meet me at the Covid Vaccine Store!

In addition to getting her hair cut last night, Zoë was excited that she'd be getting her COVID shot in the morning. Rachel gave us a lovely Family Night lesson about gratitude while we were gathered around the kitchen table, and during the lesson, Zoë drew this picture to get her excitement out:

She woke up and got dressed quite fancily for her appointment, carefully matching her dress, shoes, hair bows, and mask. Andrew ran her over to the CVS this morning while the rest of us were stuck at home doing schoolwork. Surprisingly, she was not quite as brave as she had been while getting her flu shot. Her opinion is that the COVID shot was worse than the flu shot.

Benjamin, however, who got both the flu shot and the COVID shot on the same day felt that the flu shot was worse (at any rate the arm with the flu shot felt worse). Neither child had much of a reaction to the COVID vaccine (no fever, etc.) so that's been nice.

Apparently they had a big bin of toys for the kids to choose as prizes after getting their shots. Andrew said there were quite a few children waiting to be vaccinated, which was encouraging to see. He said it was a little strange to see so many children out and about because for the past few years there really haven't been many children out (at stores and things). 

Our own children have hardly been anywhere the past couple of years, which means Zoë hasn't been inside a store since she was four years old. Like, we literally haven't taken her to a store (except, I guess, that ice cream parlor at Savannah). She was fascinated by the CVS.

When she got home she asked me if I liked the toy she had picked out at the Covid Vaccine Store.

"Wait...what?" I asked her.

"Dad took me to the Covid Vaccine Store, remember? They gave me a shot and let me pick a toy from the bin!"

"The Covid Vaccine Store?" I wondered.

"Yeah," she said, rolling her eyes a little at my ignorance. "The CVS!"

I suppose in her six-year-old mind that was the only thing that made sense. I'm not sure anyone really remembers what CVS originally stood for; I had no idea and had to look it up—Consumer Value Stores. I like her made up meaning for the acronym better though!

She chose a squishy rainbow-maned unicorn (naturally).

3/8 of our household are now fully vaccinated (Andrew, me, Rachel)!

3/8 of our household are halfway there (Miriam, Benjamin, Zoë)!

2/8 are eligible for booster shots and need to get on that (Andrew—an educator/frontline worker—and me—a pregnant lady)!

1/8 isn't eligible for the vaccine yet but has signed up for a trial for the vaccine for younger kids (Alexander)!

1/8 isn't born yet but will likely be born with some antibodies (Phoebe)!

It's been a long road, but hopefully we're on the way to a global recovery...