splinter removal

We finally got the splinter out of his hand today. He acquired it at the zoo, we think, from one of the wooden railings. We attempted removal that night, but David had warned him that it was going to hurt, so he screamed and jerked and cried (and this is the biggest fit I've seen from him to date) so much that he made himself sick. We were upset as well. He said "I just want to go to bed" and went and got under his covers with his light off. When we went in to talk to him a few minutes later, he said "I'm sorry I cried and yelled--I didn't want it to hurt." When we asked him what we were going to do about it, he said "we can go to my doctor's office and the big scary nurse can get it out." We left it alone until tonight, and we spent a half hour discussing with him how if he'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt all that much, and leaving it in there would really be bad. This didn't work, so we resorted to brute force. David essentially laid on top of him as he screamed, and I pried open his little fingers and dug it out of his palm. It took seconds, and while I had the needle under the splinter, he announced "hey, it tickles!". I got the tweezers and pulled it out as he laughed. He said "that didn't really hurt, and now my splinter is ALL GONE!". Thank goodness. I cried when it was over just because he cried so much!