Tonight, for some “rare” reasons, I decided to take Sienna out for a special dinner.  She has been fighting a flare-up on her right shoulderblade for about a week, and for the past two days she has also been alternating between refusing to walk or limping/not putting weight on her right foot.  She’s been grumpy, fussy, and clingy – clearly in pain.  Best case scenario on the walking is that her foot is just a little sore from stepping on a loose carpet staple two days ago.  I am 90% sure she stepped on one.  Worst case scenario I don’t even want to think about.  So anyways, I decided to take her out for a special dinner and this is what happened:

Me:  Sienna, let’s go out for a special dinner!  What would you like?
Sienna:  Chinese!  With the fish tank!
Me:  Great, let’s go!  Do you have to pee pee?
Sienna:  No!
Me:  Ok, let’s get our shoes on.  Do you want to wear your brand new flower shoes?!
Sienna:  Yes!
I put the shoes on her
Sienna:  Where are the lights?
Me:  Your new flower shoes don’t light up.
Sienna:  Noooooooooo!!!!!
Me:  But they have FLOWERS!
Sienna, looking at me like I’m trying to trick her:  O…k…   Ah!  They’re roses!

We get to the restaurant, it’s 5:02, exactly 2 minutes after it opens so that we can get Sienna her table…
Me:  Table for two, please.  The one in the back next to the fish tank!
Sienna laughs and claps, excited
Hostess:  The back isn’t open tonight
Me:  Ha!  That’s a good one!
Hostess:  No, really.  It’s not open tonight.
I look around the restaurant.  There is exactly one other couple in the entire place and 5 servers standing around doing nothing
Me:  Are you sure we can’t just sit there?  We sit there every time we come here.
Hostess, smiling:  No, it’s closed.
Me:  Sienna, do you still want to eat here if you can’t sit at your table?
Sienna:  Nooooooooo!
Me:  Sienna, where do you want to eat instead?
Sienna:  here!
Me:  Ok, we’ll sit down anyways.  Really, no fish tank table?
Hostess smiles, seats us not at the fish tank table, and forgets to give us a menu.

We order food (Sienna’s favorite dish in the whole world, sesame chicken).
Food arrives.
Sienna:  I have to go pee pee!
We go to the ladies room, passing the coveted fish tank table.  The table is set, the lights are on in the back room.  But clearly, we couldn’t possibly sit there for the 10 minutes it takes us to eat dinner.

We finish up and return to our table.
Sienna: There are white things on my chicken!
Me:  Yes, they are sesame seeds.  That’s what makes it sesame chicken.  They have been on it the past ten times you have ordered this.
Sienna:  Nooooo!  Get them off!
For the rest of dinner, Sienna eats exactly two bites.  Because I tricked her into eating them.
Me:  Sienna, is there anything else you will eat?
Sienna:  Ice cream.
Me:  Sigh…  (I don’t even have the energy to argue).  By the way, Sienna, we are NOT coming back here again.
Sienna:  Yeah, let’s go somewhere else next time!  Mi Cocina!

We go to the frozen yogurt store (I call it ice cream, but it’s one of the healthier frozen yogurt stores).  Sienna picks out her flavors and some berries on top.  She eats exactly 4 bites and declares that she is finished.

I am in a panic at this point.  Is she in so much pain that she can’t even eat her favorite dessert?!
I ask her what hurts.  She says her leg.  I nearly have a heart attack.
Me:  Sienna, point to where your leg hurts
Sienna points to her foot.
Sigh of relief.

We get home.  Sienna declares herself too tired for a bath.  Right to bedtime.  She asks to say good night to her ladybugs (why we have pet ladybugs is a story for another day.  Right now they are baby ladybugs, so they don’t look like ladybugs yet.  They look like alligators.  Ew.)   So we go to the ladybug house, and discover that three of the ladybug alligators are not where they should be.  Instead,  they are on TOP of their house.  Eek!  We round them up by getting them to crawl on a band aid wrapper, put them back in their house and fasten the lid tightly.

The usual bedtime battle commences.  3 stories, 3 trips to the potty, 2 calls for water and hugs.  (I am a big softie.)  One one trip she tells me that her knee hurts.  I’m back in panic mode.

On her 5th time calling me in, Sienna grabs me in a big hug and says “Mommy, I didn’t eat dinner because I had a very, very big lunch. I ate a whole box of macaroni.  My tummy was full already.”  And then she kissed me on the forehead and went to sleep.

Ah, information that would have been helpful 3 hours ago…

Please send some healing thoughts Sienna’s way, and also, please tell me these kinds of battles are not so rare.