A weekend with Maya

We tried to fill the weekend with as many activities as possible as Maya is not one for sitting still. A visit to the scarecrows on the Plymouth main square. The Dorothy one was the least scary.

Star Wars Day at the Plymouth Library. We met up with Daniel and Oliver. First stop; face painting

the boys are various Star Wars characters. Maya's is from Monsters, Inc

Later met up with Josh and Allie at Three Cedars Farm. Maya has been too afraid to take the train by herself but having Allie with her gave her courage

Corn pit

My handsome son

colors are almost at their peak

peppers from the Plymouth Farmer's Market (better prices than Ann Arbor) plus some of my last tomatoes. The frost got most of the rest of them

I have been dreading this day ever since I got a huge bill from the dentist (due a week before I actually received it). Apparently they are tired of the run around I am getting from my insurance company and want to be paid. I imagined spending this entire afternoon battling yet again Blue Cross. They had given me permission to use my out-of-network dentist to fix the results of the accident. I have all these thirty digit transaction codes written down and dates of my many conversations. Usually I get nice, seemly helpful people but in the end, they always give the wrong instructions. The last person I had spoken to, as I was packing to go to California, was not helpful . My dentist needed to put the right code on the bills but admitted this code does not exist so sorry, I won't ever be reimbursed.

But I began my probable ordeal with another call to the dentist to see what the insurance company told them. Surprise, surprise, they had just been contacted by the insurance company and needed yet more info and said my bill will be paid.

So that's good news but we will see. At least it will be a few weeks before I have to deal with this again.They paid the plastic surgeon $8000 for an hour's worth of work. This bill is much less than that but represents hours of work.

We are in the midst of a week of Indian Summer. Yay for that. It is beautiful outside. I have been running and biking quite a bit and now have lost 12 pounds. Good but I have a long way to go.

As I have some fears for Maya's safety (need to talk to the AAPD sometime this week to see if my fears are the least bit justified) Dont'ae reluctantly let me have her this weekend. Naomi works on the weekends. From my years of babysitting, being a parent, doing science demos for all ages, helping out in classrooms, tutoring, being a Girl Scout leader and coaching soccer, I have come to the conclusion that the easiest kid to watch is a six year old girl. At this stage in their development, they are still very eager to please adults and have the self control in general to behave as asked. As the girls get older, their focus is less on pleasing adults and more on pleasing peers with  annoying results. However Maya has severe ADHD (as diagnosed last week..still working on a medication the insurance will approve). As much as she wants to be good, she just can't unless we tire her out. She is a whirlwind of motion even in her sleep. She is very thin even though she eats more than an adult.  So this weekend, lots of bike rides, walks, visits with cousins, trip to the apple farm, trips to parks. She is too easily distracted to even watch TV for much more than a few minutes. She especially enjoys going to Shanna's house. Extra bonus: this weekend they had Lucy, the first grade classroom guinea pig who takes turns going to various students' houses. Shanna as a child, strongly reacted to guinea pigs (and rabbits) so she was a bit nervous about this. Turns out Oliver has the same symptoms she did as a child but now her symptoms are much milder. Maya enjoyed holding Lucy as the girls took turns feeding her. Lucy made her little purring noises of contentment as she was petted.