This is the worst day ever

Such sad words from Tenley, spoken Tuesday night at about 8:00.  The did not start out this way for her.  Everything went smoothly in the morning getting ready for school, school was just fine, after school was the usual. Snack, funnies (this will be explained in another post), homework, jobs, etc...  Dinner is one of her favorites, Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  Grandma had made a batch to take up to the cabin while she was painting the basement and she left us some.  It had been a beautiful day, almost 60 degrees... practically feels like summer.  Maddy begins asking if Norm will go roller blading with her.  We decide to clean up dinner and head out before it gets dark and cold.  Tenley and I don't have rollerblades  but we definitely want to get outside in the fresh air.Tenley begins by saying she wants to ride her scooter.  We have been working on Tenley learning to ride her bike for about three years now.  Every spring we get her out there and she does pretty good.  She gets to where she can go 100 feet on her own.  She is not happy about doing it but we force her.  So, since she is not happy about it, she doesn't keep it up over the summer so we start over every spring.  This year is no different, except she is 8 1/2 now.  We have told her that its a requirement as a human to ride a bike ( no offense to my sister Adrienne, who is two-wheeled impaired).  So after a little kicking and screaming she pulls a jeckyll and hyde moment and decides to get on her bike willingly and happily.  We head outside, she hops on her bike and is ready to go.  Norm discovers the sweetest way to help a kids ride a bike.  Why we discovered this on our last child, is beyond me, but anyways... Rollerblades on and holding on to her bike seat  is the way to go.  No more running bent over trying to keep up with the bike.  He just holds on and rolls behind her.  We tell her we will head down by the clubhouse so she can ride in the open parking lot and not in the street or the narrow sidewalk.  By the time we get there, she has it down.  She is confident, steering, braking, and even starting herself.  So, instead of hanging out in the parking lot we take off on the walking path.  I am walking along, mostly hanging with Maddy, who is learning to rollerblade.  She is picking it up fast, but I can keep up with her.  So far, this is sounding like a pretty good day for Tenley, but it goes downhill quickly.  On our way back home, we are on the sidewalk,  Norm and Tenley are a ways ahead of Maddy and I.. Tenley is cruising along, I am cheering her on.  Next thing I know she is on the ground.  I didn't see what happened but she is crying and laying on the grass.  When I catch up, I discover that she hit a fence with her hand and it pinched her hand between the handlebars and the fence.  It is quite purple, swollen, and bleeding a little.  Any drop of blood increases the trauma (and drama) of the situation.  We coerce her, I still don't know how, to get back on the bike.  We make it home, get her some ice and tell her she can watch American Idol while she is icing her injury.  We settle down and the girls decide they are hungry and need a bedtime snack, since the soup didn't fill them up.  They head upstairs to get a bowl of cereal.  Five minutes later, Tenley comes down crying.  Her palate expander is coming off.  I am not sure what that means, but she is feaking out.  She won't let me look, but she is sobbing uncontrollably.  I finally get her to settle down and tell me why she is so upset.  She says it hurts and she doesn't want to swallow it and choke.  So, now I can understand her fears and try to help her.  I try to look in and see what is happening.  One of the brackets on the back tooth that is holding the RPE in has come unglued and is dangling down.  So, basically one side is attached and the other feels like its going to go down her throat.  So, we don't really know what qualifies as an orthodontic emergency, but I try to call Dr. Bills.  I get his wife at home, she calls him at the office (he is working late hooking up a computer), he calls me back.  He says, it's not an emergency ( I still would like to know what would be), and if she's comfortable he can fix it in the morning. So, I think I can calm her down.  I try to get her to lay down so I can take a look. She keeps saying, "I want to go to Dr. Bills!"  I keep telling her that he's not there and we can't go. She is back to sobbing, has the zubzubs, and this is when she says..."This is the worst day ever!"  This brought out mixed emotions in me, it broke my heart to see her so upset and it made me kind of smile to know what and 8 year old thinks is the worst day ever.  She finally sits up, starts gagging, and spits out a screw.  Her worst fear of swallowing and choking on a piece of metal was coming true.  She has the look of fear in her eyes.  We convince her to let us look, again.  We tell her that the one side will come out now, but she has to let us get it.  She does not agree with that option. The other option, of her taking it out, doesn't sit will either.  She finally wiggles it with her tongue and it comes out. Hallelujuh!  She can sleep without wondering if she is going to choke in the middle of the night.

So, the worst day ever, ends for Tenley.  I hope she can keep this perspective, as wednesday brings, what I think would top this as the worst day ever.