Lately...

Summer has been moving along just like any other time, I suppose. We are trying to get out and enjoy the weather as much as possible since it seems fall and then winter are right around the corner. I know it's awhile before we receive the first snow, but once the State Fair starts and we get any dip in the weather I start to mourn the end of summer. Here's a little taste of what we've been doing so far.

We've been trying to get Riley's cavities filled. This could probably be a post of it's own, but it's so depressing to me I am going to slip it in with more positive stuff in this post. For a review, Riley went in for her first dental appointment and came out with the knowledge that she has a whole lotta cavities. I shouldn't be too surprised since my side of the family has bad teeth (including me), but as a parent I was hoping my kid wasn't going to be that kid.

My mother in law is a dental hygienist so we took Riley there, but the fillings appointment didn't go well so we went to a dentist that works specifically with kids. They suggested we do x-rays to make sure we were on the right track. Based on the x-rays, those 5 fillings turned into 3 crowns and 2 fillings.

 

Riley did great during the x-ray, but I had to pin her down during the insertion of the crown as she was crying super hard. It didn't help that I didn't care for this dentist - for a dentist that works with kids I expected a little more warm and fuzzy (the hygienist was great). At any rate, we were told that we would have to take Riley to a hospital and put her under anesthesia to do the rest of the dental work. 

*sigh* 

So we are waiting to do that. Jesse wants a second opinion since he didn't really like this dentist. By the way... the crown she has is metal - not white. They will fall out when her big teeth come in, but until then she's going to look like Jaws. Luckily they are in the back, but still. I hope she doesn't face any teasing in the future on this. Ugh.

Ok, on to more fun activities. We've been hitting up a smaller farmer's market near our house which has provided some free face painting. The 'artist's' have obviously been different as you can maybe see in the quality of work below, but Riley hasn't really cared.

Ok, so you can't see it that well here, but the ice cream cone is way better looking than the rainbow which also started to smear onto other things. Luckily, she was ok with us washing it off an hour after we got home. The farmer's market is such a quick and simple trip for us. They have music and it's not overly crowded at this one so it's a nice, inexpensive activity for us to do. And Riley really enjoys it too.

Something that we haven't really taken advantage of this year is Music in the Park at Wolfe Park. These concerts tend to start about the time we are winding Riley down for bed, but we were able to catch one band as they set up. Riley loves music so we will have to make sure we catch some of these shows next year. I guess there were even a few that were focused on kids music too.

Just wanted to include the following picture of Riley in her Grand Marais t-shirt and her new jean jacket.

OK, moving on... Jesse went on a boy's cabin last weekend so I took last Friday off and had a mom and daughter day with Riley. Our day started out great until I told her we were going to the Como Zoo and she said she didn't want to go.

What?

The car was packed so we were going no matter what. We had fun, but Riley might have had the right idea when she said she didn't want to go. Apparently, everyone took that Friday off and went to zoo so parking was a little ridiculous. Then, there was some sort of alarm that kept going off (with very short reprieves) the entire time we were there. On top of that, Riley whined that she didn't want to see the animals and then whined that she didn't want to leave cause she wanted to stay with the animals. And finally, we witnessed some borderline parenting decisions that made me a little sad. Riley witnessed a kid totally freak out and I was grateful my kid didn't behave like that (and then I was put in my place when she pulled an epic meltdown the next day - more to come on that).

On the upside, Riley did not freak out over the annoying alarm noise and we got to have this moment together. It's not too often that she and I get to do stuff like this alone. Oh, and she loved seeing the monkeys - something did make her happy.

The following day we were still on our own. After a morning trip to the gym we headed over to Jesse's moms' house. Her side of the family was having their annual picnic in Jordan and we decided to check it out even if Jesse wasn't going to be there. Unfortunately, they are still doing major road construction on 169. I thought for a second that I would take a different route, but it's so out of the way. I mean, how bad could 169 be? Turns out there was a fender bender right where the two lanes had to merge into one so I got to Suzie's house way later than anticipated. But from there it was a quick trip (or so it seemed) to the park where we all met.

Riley has a cousin (Jackson) that is just slightly older than her that she loves to play with. And, what seems to be a running theme, he is a boy. Don't get me wrong, she likes to play with girls, but she loves to play with the boys. Not sure what this is about.

Maybe she just chases him because of his cool wheels.

There were other kids there, I swear.

We were warned that these rice krispie bars turn everything blue. Everything.

Photo credit Ryan Doheny

Mostly siblings, but a few cousins too.

We stayed at the picnic for several hours (over Riley's typical nap time). I prepared Riley many times that we would be leaving soon, but apparently the thought of leaving her friend, Jackson, was just too much to handle. She threw the biggest fit I've ever seen her have in public. No amount of reasoning was going to help so I just picked her up as she thrashed in my arms and carried her past our family and all sorts of strangers. So the day before I was totally questioning the parenting techniques of the kid that lost it at the zoo, and here I was with that kid (although I didn't smack my kid like that lady did).

Once in the car, Riley calmed down. For the first few minutes of our ride home we talked about our feelings. She told me she was sad, but was adamant that she was not tired. A few minutes later she was asleep. No surprise there.

Jesse returned home later that day - a full day earlier than planned. Turns out many of the 'boys' that go on this trip are now dads and didn't want to be away from their families for too long. I was glad to have Jesse home, but I enjoyed having time that was just for us girls... even if it wasn't all rainbows and fairies.