Katie goes to the Dentist with Much Objection. (To put it lightly. Like, the lightness of a feather as opposed to the not lightness of a very heavy, very dense rock. A rock surrounded by cement and further weighted down with chains...)

So the last time we talked, I went on and on about our Farmer's Market field trip.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Katie had decided that she didn't want to walk anymore.  She got down and sat on the ground.  *Cringe*  She got up pretty quickly when I told her that people pee on the sidewalk downtown.  It's (probably) not true but it got her moving.

She still managed to pull out a smile for me...

We were all pretty tired by this point.

And after posting about the walking and the eating and the shopping, I was tired out and I just couldn't bring myself to rehash the terror that was Katie's dentist appointment.

But it's time.  I'm ready...

So, we were leaving grammy and grampy's house and I jumped the gun.

I made the mistake of telling Katie that she was going to get to go to the dentist (!!!) right now! and how exciting is that!?  In retrospect I maybe should have waited till we were in the parking lot of the dentist office and I should have distracted her with something shiny and maybe some candy so she wouldn't see any teeth related pictures there.  But I didn't.

In my defense, I figured I was golden.  I figured that since Katie had listened to Donovan tell her about his dentist visits - he's 5 and has already been to the dentist more than once! - and she seemed interested, and when I asked her if she thought she would like to go to the dentist, she said yes, that there was nothing to be worried about.  (And I was a little relieved she seemed so okay with this when Donovan was talking about it because, well, um... I had already scheduled an appointment for her a couple of weeks ago.)

Turns out that Katie was not interested in coming within a million feet of a dentist office.

She started to cry.  And scream.  And yell at me.  The Whole.Way.There.  At least 20 minutes of non-stop, ear-splitting shrieks and screams.

It was not a stellar experience.

At one point she even said she didn't want to go to the dentist, she would go to the doctor instead.  (Totally shocked me.  She never wants to go to the doctor either but she's got good reason... shots and strep tests and more shots are never fun for kids.  But no reason to be afraid of the dentist!  She's gone with me and her grandma and been fine watching everyone.)

We finally got there and I had to carry her in.  Gave her name to the receptionist over the sound of her cries and sat down in a far corner of the waiting room.  (Not that it spared anyone from hearing her.)

The dental hygienist came in and sat down next to us.  Katie cried some more.  The hygienist was really nice but no match for a 4-year-old's fears.  We did go into the room and she was able to count Katie's teeth while Katie sat on my lap, but no cleaning took place.  Katie still scored a new toothbrush, floss (that will end up in mommy's bathroom drawer - it was good stuff!), and a sticker.  And she didn't even have to get her teeth cleaned for it all!

We headed home.  Me with a sigh of regret that I'll need to take more time off of work to take her back (after today's reaction I would much rather be at work than at the dentist) and Katie with her loot.  And my assurance that we wouldn't go back for "a whole week"*.

* For Katie, "a whole week" can mean an hour from now, a month from now, or a year from now.  I'm not sure if she realizes that we do, indeed, need to get this done.  I don't think she'll be ready even if we did wait a year.  *Sigh*

Next up?  Jake's well check where I'm sure there will be shots.  Arg.

A Fun Farmer's Market Visit (also, Fresh Linen and Puke don't mix.)

This was it!

Finally the day for us to go to the Farmer's Market.  Everything was ready.  I had a half day of vacation from work, John was picking Katie up early from school and he and the kids were meeting me at work at 12:30 so we could park and walk over.

He called me at 12:23 to tell me he was outside and I heard Jake crying.

Then I heard John say, "Jacob puked."

I was all, "How bad can it be?  He hasn't had lunch yet so it can't be terrible.  We'll just wipe him up with wipies and be on our way.  Easy peasy." and walked out of the office with a spring in my step.

After all, we'd only rescheduled this day five MILLion times (okay, maybe it was five... five times) with my work and finally, FINALLY everything seemed to come together and we were going to have a fun family outing even if it hurt.

I walked outside (still springy) and saw my family standing on the sidewalk.

"Oh," I thought, "How nice!  They were so excited to see me that they had to step outside to watch me as I walk out!  I wonder who's going to give me the first hug!"

My next thought was, "Hmmm, why does Katie have her frownie face on?"

And still my next thought was, "Where are Jake's pants?"

Now, these thoughts came quickly.  It didn't take too long for me to put it together.  And let me tell you...  Puke + car + baby = fussy and smelly.  Katie doesn't like crying or stinky smells.  Neither do I for that matter but I managed to keep the gag reflex down as I put my bag in the back of the car and got a whiff of Jake's shorts and just the general... smelliness that seemed to have taken over the interior of the car.

It was B A D.  And we got to "enjoy" it all the way home.

And I laughed through my grimace remembering that I thought we would be able to fix this with wipes.  I laughed more when I got into the back seat and saw that  John had already tried to clean up the mess with wipes - there were about 20 of them on the floor of the car - and it must have helped a little but even wipes were no match for puke.  If he'd had a hose or something, we maybe could have cleaned out some of the gross mess but we did not have a hose.  So the car stunk all the way home.

So, to recap, no one was glad to see me, everyone under 4' was crying, and the whole way home was pretty miserable.

Then Katie asked when we were going to the Farmer's Market and I hated to break the news to her but I had to tell her that I didn't think we would be able to go, but we would try.

She cried.  Because if there's one thing she dislikes, it's not being able to do something (or not having a definite and right - in her book - answer on something she's had her heart set on, and this was one of those things.

We got home and put Jake to bed.  John took off the car seat cover and I threw it in the wash.  Katie walked around chattering away and asking questions.  And was getting a little huffy over not being able to go on our Farmer's Market trip.

Then... out of nowhere... came this awesome idea!  I could bring Katie to the Farmer's Market and John could stay home with Jake!

He and Katie both thought it was brilliant (okay, that might be over-exaggerating) and my status as the best Mommy EVER was reestablished (definitely not over-exaggerating!).

Of course, the more the merrier so I invited Grammy and Grampy to go with us and they just happened to be available.  We picked them up on the way (unfortunately, even after a hearty spray with some air freshener, the car still had that faint smell of puke.  Now it was just Fresh Linen-scented puke but Grammy and Grampy didn't complain one bit) and got a parking spot.

We walked about 9 blocks out and hit every booth.  It was a lot of walking.

We ate hot dogs at one of the street vendor stands where the topic of conversation was how the lady next to us had her purse stolen that morning.  And I spilled mustard on my pants.

And we shopped.

I bought bananas, strawberries, blackberries, toasted almonds, dried apples, and soap.  Grammy bought some onions and some honey.  She might have picked up something else but I don't remember because I was too busy trying to convince Katie that "big girls walk" to the car, they don't get carried.

This worked for awhile in conjunction with the cookie I used as a bribe shared with her.  But pretty soon she decided she was too tired to go on.  And I carried her... piggy-back.  Not really something I would recommend.  I mean, it wasn't too bad for the first three blocks, but after a that she had gotten pretty heavy (I was happy when she finally settled her hand placement to a location *not* wrapped around my neck.  Supporting the weight of a toddler with the same part of my body that needs to remain unobstructed so I can maybe breath a little was challenging, to say the least!).

We were about 3 blocks away when I finally convinced her to walk on the side of a planter, like a balance beam.  After a moment of panic when I realized we were out of balancing ledges, I make up the "Let's run till mommy's out of breath and exhausted AND tired of saying, "Don't step on a crack!  Don't step on a crack!"  Luckily I've been doing that 30-Day Shred or I might have ended up on the ground.  Oh, remember all of the stuff I bought?  Grampy carried my (very heavy) bag the whole time.

We finally (FINALLY) made it to the car.  I had a fun time looking at everything and the stuff we bought was pretty good (we've already finished the strawberries and blackberries though... and the bananas are almost gone too.  TWO bunches of them!  Jake is a banana fiend!).

So, I would say this was a successful "field trip".  We dropped Grammy and Grampy off at home and headed out to Katie's dentist appointment.

And that is a story for another day.

Mommy Fail? Not a chance! (This time anyway)

Katie came to me on Tuesday morning and said, "Mommy, do you have my nickels?  For the nickel jamboree today at school."

I told her that was tomorrow and she said (doubtfully), "Oh, okay...  Are you sure it's tomorrow?  I don't want to miss it."

Then I told her to check the calendar in the kitchen.  The calendar she can't read yet.  The calendar that's so high up on the wall she can't really even touch it.  (This is intentional.  She may be a big girl but she still likes the sound of paper as she rips it into tiny pieces.  My calendar is paper.  Therefore, Katie should not come into contact with it until she's at least 10.)  Duh.

I heard her in the pantry yelling to Grandpa that "Mommy says it's tomorrow."  She still sounded doubtful.

And even though Mommy said she was sure it was Wednesday and not, in fact, today... Grandpa got her a baggie of nickels for the jamboree *just in case*.

Just. in. case.

And what does that tell you about the level of trust bestowed upon my by my dear daughter and my dad?  Hmph.  Maybe a little lacking... and through NO fault of my own!  I've never forgotten to get her stuff ready for a school event, or to pay the school for something she wants to do... Never ever.  (Although I did kinda forget to make Katie's lunch on Monday night but got it together on Tuesday morning in time for her to have the usual jelly-no peanut butter or she won't eat it-sandwich, chips, and a pudding cup.  I usually try to include some fresh fruit* but there was no time to cut up strawberries...  and since I don't think she realizes that I usually get that ready the night before, I doubt she would use this as an example of a semi-Mommy fail sooooo, I'm not counting it either.)

* Arg.  Just remembered that I forgot to buy bananas when I was at the store on Monday night.  I looked at them about 20 times but wanted to get them last so Jake wouldn't want to eat one (or 10) before we checked out.  And I forgot them completely. *sigh*  I sense a grocery trip coming up soon.

But I was totally right and I knew it.  Not because I'm so up on all of the pre-school happenings but because they kindly scheduled all of their stuff on Wednesdays.  (A silent thank you is being sent right now to whoever decided that consistency was key when scheduling events for kids when mommy works and has enough trouble remembering what she's got going on that day... or just what day it is.  It's always nice to know that if Katie goes to school for one day, the next day she's got a field trip.)

I still checked the calendar though, *just in case*, because there's always that chance that I'm wrong.  (I wasn't wrong.)

So, by the time I went to bed on Tuesday night, Katie's lunch was packed and in the fridge, the check for her tuition was in her bag, and her $5 in nickels is in a cute coin purse, also in her bag.  There wasn't too much room when her small-ish bag also holds:

Lambie
Change of clothes
Towel
Swimsuit
Shoes

Also, and I've only rescheduled this 5 times!, we're planning on going to the Farmers Market on Thursday.  John and the kids are picking me up from work early and, barring torrential rain or horrible heat... or both, we'll be wandering around looking at veggies and soap and salsa, (oh my!) for the afternoon.

Until we need to leave for Katie's dentist appointment.  Her very first dentist appointment!



We've talked about going to the dentist before and I've learned that if there's one thing (besides the doctors office) that Katie is adamantly against having anything to do with, it would be the dentist office.  Which is strange because she's never had a bad experience there.  I took her to one of my cleaning appointments and so has Mom.  She was fine.  Sat in the chair and hung out and talked to me (I couldn't answer but the dentist assistant did).  Nothing scary there.

So I thought it would be a great time for her to get her teeth checked but when I mentioned that it was time for her to see a dentist, she started to cry.  Hard.  She was very upset. <---- Understatement.

Sooooo I haven't actually told her she's got an appointment.  I'm hoping she won't ask why we're dropping Jake and Daddy off at home and not us.  I'm hoping she'll just assume that I need to have my teeth cleaned.  I'm hoping she'll be so tired from the Farmers Market that she can't summon the energy to freak out.

At the very least, I'm hoping she'll save her freaking out until we get to the dentist and she's in the chair and they can show her that it won't hurt to have the dentist look at your teeth (at least at her age with her new little teeth... but two crowns later and I can say that sitting in that chair with the dentist looking at my teeth scares me.  They usually find something that needs fixing.  I hold off because a. it's too expensive and b. I don't want to have someone poking my gums with Novocain.  Mostly b.  Then it gets worse until I can't put it off any longer and it's more expensive because they have to do two crowns instead of one and the cost of crowns is roughly $600 EACH, and shouldn't you get a discount if you have to have two of something?  They're in there anyway just drilling and scraping away...  *deep breath*) for a few minutes, get her new toothbrush and floss, pick out her sticker and go!

Oh well.  At least if she's freaking out, her mouth is wide open (mostly from the yelling and screeching) which usually helps when the point of the whole thing is to see all of your teeth.