Cavities, Parks, & St. Helena

On Friday, Miles had his 3rd trip to see his dentist (aka Aunty Cheryl) to fix his remaining 3 cavities. Last week, he did a good job having 1 cavity filled, according to Jus and Awts and his only complaint was that he didn't like the sleepy juice aka numbing medicine. We felt relieved that it went well, thinking it would be fine when we had to take him back to fix the other 3 cavities.

So anyway, Friday morning, Miles whined a bit about going in but didn't seem to have any problems after we prepped him all week about what procedure was happening. We also told him after his cavities were fixed we'd take him to Toys R Us (how desperate was I for his cooperation?!). According to Jus, Miles was cool and happy at first, ready for the work to be done.

While I sat in the waiting room after a few minutes at the office, I hear him crying to the top of his lungs. I tried to stay outside since he'd probably sense my nervousness (which is why Justin aka king of cool stayed w/ him inside). But Awts told me I should go see him. Miles pretty much panicked after he got the sleepy juice. He refused any more treatment and I was worried that he was traumatized! Jus told me that Miles firmly told him, "I'm never going to the dentist again!" Poor Aunty Cheryl asked Miles, "We're still cool after this right Miles?" She was pretty good at communicating with him different options. But he was so upset. We all agreed to try it another time--even though I felt highly doubtful he would set foot in the office again after that!

But while we were outside of the office, walking to the car, Miles was able to calm down a bit and remembering our deal, asked, "Are we just going home or are we going to Toys R Us?" And I replied, "The deal was that after your cavities were done, we'd take you." At that moment, I was anticipating another meltdown. (Poor kid! Am I a sadist or what?!) But instead, he paused for a second to think and said with a long sigh, "Okayyyy. I'll let Aunty Cheryl fix my cavities." And just like that, he bounced right back into the office, sat cooperatively and let Aunty Cheryl finish working on his teeth!

It was like night & day. I love how he is resilient! Thank God! And thank you Aunty Cheryl for being his dentist!!

After that exhausting morning, at least there was a sleep over with Darrien, including a a movie night at the park. We brought some water, musubi's to the park, blankets, and had popcorn. Braving the cold night was good experience to prep us for camping next week.

On Saturday,  Aunty Maritess organized a belated birthday picnic for Aunty Tintin @ St. Helena. It was a good thing we moved away from V.Sattui Winery and ended up at a park behind an abandoned outlet. We had the whole place to ourselves pretty much. Pretty funny seeing Miles, Darrien, and Zayden around each other! I mean, I'm aware that we are parents now but it's trippy thinking about the fact that they are 3rd generation. We can only imagine the things they will do together as they grow up together.

While we were munching on delicious sandwiches from Little Luca's, Miles and Darrien went off exploring the grounds. Next thing you know, Miles is yelling, "Everyone! Come here! It's a mushroom!!" 

(thanks for these pics Uncle Bob!)

That pretty much made his day. "I wanna be a mushroom guy, a mycologist," he tells his Aunty Tintin.
While we observed this lonesome mushroom, he noticed a little frog hopping around from underneath it. It was the tiniest frog we've ever seen. So we got a red cup and caught it.

After more exploring with Uncle Bob, the boys found a little lizard too! It's all been a little teaser to what we are preparing for next week with our family camping trip to Big Sur! We are pretty excited to do this and hopefully make this a yearly tradition.