Kayda's First Dentist Appointment

Kayda went with me to the dentist for the first time today, we went to Dr. Dawson because I've gone there since I was little. I was surprised. I thought she would sit with me while they cleaned my teeth and then they would have her do the chair ride and such. Instead they took her to her own chair and did her first appointment WHILE I was at mine. I was kind of disappointed. Fortunately I could still hear her talking to the dental assistant. She was not nervous or shy in the slightest. She dove right in! She got to spray the water into a cup and suck it out with that straw thing (no clue what it's called), then they did that in her mouth, she got to play with the sunglasses, and ride the chair. She was very excited because she got TWO toothbrushes, one had Ariel (her favorite princess) but it is for ages 5-6 so they also gave her a pooh bear toothbrush that was smaller. The dentist came in and counted her teeth (she has 20). After they were done she walked right past me to go choose a toy then came back and sat perfectly on my lap while they finished up. Dr. Dawson said "If all my patients were that good I would be a happy man." He also told me that apparently her teeth and bite look exactly as they should for her age. She is excited to go to the dentist with me again.

Pumpkin Patch!

We went to the Spooner Farm pumpkin patch this year.  It's out near Sumner and it was worth the drive out there. The set up they had was really neat; they have hay bale spiders and cow benchs and LOTS of places set up for pictures. It was nice that everything wasn't really spread out as well. We watched some people sling pumpkins, the kids discovered that rubber boots are excellent for walking through puddles, we all got our pumpkins and we went through the corn maze. I think next year we'll go down planning to spend more time there. It looked like they had a few other things that we didn't get to do. It was good that we left when we did though because it started raining just after we left.

Check out Kayda's Jump! The first puddle she came across she was trying to go around and couldn't. I told her "It's okay to go in the puddles, that's why we wore our boots." After that there was no stopping either of them. I think they would've just run from puddle to puddle if we let them. Kayda did manage to find one that was a little too big and ended up stuck in the mud. We had to pry her out, thank goodness for the little handles on their boots!

Poor Cousin

Aileena, Kayda's second oldest cousin (7 years old), has been having quite an ordeal over the last couple of days. Unfortunately it will be a while until it is completely over. Thursday she had severe head and neck pain and numbness in her arm. She was airlifted to harborview where she was given steroids and a CAT scan. There was a large mass in her brain, fortunately the steroids helped with the numbness which is a good sign that permanent damage wasn't inflicted. She had an MRI and they found that it was a tumor. Yesterday she went in to surgery to have it removed. The doctors are very optimistic. It is a rare, aggressive type of cancer but it responds well to treatment and doesn't spread to other parts of the body. She will be having an MRI to make sure that they removed all of the tumor, she will have som radiation therapy and then regular MRI's to be sure it doesn't relapse. While she has been in the hospital the other cousins have been spending a lot of time together. They spent the first night with Aunt Anna and Uncle Scott (Jarrett, Nathan and Ella). Then Friday all the cousins played in the morning before Dillon, Kayda and Ella came home with me for Dillon's nap. Ella ended up wanting to have a sleep over here so she slept next to Kayda, sideways in the bed. They had a great time and Ella went to sleep more easily than Kayda and Dillon did (they were so excited that Ella was staying the night). Jarrett, Chase and Nathan stayed with Grandma Peggy. Here are the kiddos in Kayda's bed. Hopefully Aileena will recovery quickly because her siblings miss her VERY much. Ella doesn't understand exactly what's going on but she asks "Where is Aileena going to sleep?"

In the morning I heard Kayda moving around so I got up real quick to get her. She was in there saying "Ella...Ella". She wanted Ella to wake up and play. She didn't have to wait long. Ella was walking down the hall in just a couple of minutes. They were settled in to watch morning cartoons when Dillon woke up and wanted to sit by Ella too. So here they are all snuggled in together.