Injections and EMLA cream

My nine year old son needed an MMR booster yesterday. Actually, when we got to the surgery, no one seemed completely sure whether he'd already had it or not - "Where's your red book?" - but the nurse went ahead anyway.
I was hugely apprehensive. The last time he had a splinter, my son had been completely, rolling about hysterical at the idea of a needle. I had visions of the nurse chasing him round the surgery, needle in hand, me saying, "It'll be fine," but not really believing it. At a previous visit to the doctor, I had mentioned this fear and he'd kindly given me some EMLA cream, an anesthetic cream. I have to admit to not being completely convinced that this would work, but applied it liberally to both arms - covering all bases - an hour before and spoke confidently of its power.
Actually, he was pretty brave. At the last minue, a unknown woman - I presume she was a staff member, but maybe she was just another patient - hovered over him, saying, "PInch your leg. It will take your mind off it," which I considered unhelpful. Either it was going to hurt, in which case why cause additional pain, or else it wasn't, so why bother. Anyway, the injection was over and done with before my son even noticed. So painless was it that he wasn't convinced anything had actually happened.
So, lessons learned:
1. Get the EMLA cream and say with confidence that it won't hurt. I wasn't sure how far to go along this route, not wanting to promise a pain-free experience if that wasn't going to be the case.
2. Don't offer the "you can have the whole day off school if you're brave" bribe. In retrospect, a cup of hot chocolate and a nice biscuit and he could have been back in the classroom by mid-morning.