You, Me, and Riley

chapter 17

"I no wan go." Riley said stomping her foot and crossing her arms as Dana pushed her out the front door and towards the car.

"For the last time Riley you are going whether you want to or not." I said raising my eyebrow and looking down at her.

"No!" She yelled throwing herself on the ground and laying on the cement driveway face first "No, no, no!"

"Well then." Dana said walking up behind me "That escalated quickly."

"Do you want to explain to me why you are throwing a fit in the middle of our driveway?" I asked kneeling down in front of Riley and pulling her up to look at me. "Because last I checked one of our rules was no screaming and you're doing an awful lot of that."

"I no wan go to the doctor!" She yelled before she cried into her hands.

"Okay let's try one more time without the yelling, don't make me ask again Riley." I said looking her in the eye as she continued.

"I no wan go doctor. He urt my arm ast time." She said after she took a deep breath.

"Riley." I said with a sigh "I promise you this time it won't hurt. They're not even going to take your arm out of the cast. They just want to take a few pictures; it will be quick, easy, and painless." I said as I picked her up and set her on the hood of the car. "Now missy, I know that you were upset but yelling at Momma and I like that wasn't okay. There are better ways to handle things. The next time something like this happens we are going to have to talk about timeouts."

"No timeout." She said as I threw away the Kleenex I was using to wipe the tears off her face. "I sorry Mommy I no do it no more."

"I know your sorry baby and I hope I never have to give you a timeout but if you break the rules like that again then you are getting a timeout." I watched her mouth open as she began to argue with me and interrupted her by saying "Unless you want spankings instead."

"No tank you Mommy." She quickly said as I picked her up and carried her to the backseat of the car. After I buckled her into her car seat I hoped into the passenger seat and smiled at Dana as she pulled out of the driveway and we started our drive to the doctor's office.

I sighed to myself as I watched Dana unbuckle a pouting Riley from her car seat and lead her into the office. "We have an appointment at 10:30 for Dr. Webber's" I said when I was called to the front desk. Kyle was coordinating with the physician at this office, so he could get the weekly scans he needed of Riley's arm. He had also told the doctors that Riley was a little and might be afraid to get the scans done so the process might be difficult. I would have to thank Kyle the next time I talked to him!

"Are you sure we haf to do dis Momma?" Riley asked as the Nurse called her name and we followed her back to one of the rooms.

"Yeah baby." Dana said with a reassuring smile "I'm sure. But I promise it won't hurt."

The nurse led us back to a room that had an x-ray machine and Dana and I watched what little light Riley had left in her eyes leave.

"No pease Mommy." She said looking up at me. I was about to answer when there was a knock on the door and the doctor poked her head inside.

"Hi fokes. My name is Dr. Webber how is everybody today?" She said as she walked in the room "Now I thought I was supposed to be taking a picture of a broken arm, but I don't see-" She said looking around the room pretending she couldn't see Riley hiding behind Dana. She opened her folder and pointed at something. "Yes, right there. It says I should look for a purple cast. I guess I could take a picture of your arm." She said pointing at me.

I squinted my eyes at her in confusion for a second and finally replied "um yeah, I guess." I couldn't help but smile when I heard Riley giggle in triumph.

"Perfect!" Dr. Webber said "sit right here and put your arm under this camera. Now Dana if you and your odd looking shadow want to exit the room real quick I will take the photo."

"Are you actually taking an x-ray?" I asked once they left the room.

"No" she said leaning against the counter with a smile. "but I will bring in a random scan in a few minutes, hopefully by seeing it didn't hurt you Riley won't be so afraid. You guys can come back in, and ill be back in a few minutes with your scan." She said opening the door.

"Mommy you urt?" Riley asked running up to me with concern in her eyes.

"No Riley, I'm not. I told you it doesn't hurt remember?" I said kneeling in front of her.

"Es." She said as she looked down at her fidgeting fingers. "I tought you were ie'ing."

"I would never lie to you Riley." I said guiding her chin up so her eyes would meet mine. "All of those rules we gave you yesterday, Momma and I follow them too baby." 

"Well I'm a little confused." Dr. Webber said as she knocked on the door and walked into the room looking at an x-ray of an arm. "Your arm is clearly not broken."

"Can I see peas?" Riley asked peeking her head out from behind me to look at the x-ray that Dr. Webber was now showing her. "Dat a pic'ure of your arm Mommy. I get pic'ure of my arm now?" She said holding up her broken arm.

"Hold on a second." Dr. Webber said with a smile as she put her hands on her hips "Are you telling me I took a picture of the wrong arm. Get up here silly." She said patting the table as Riley giggled. Now that Riley was finally happy and taking her x-ray it didn't take us long to finish.

"Thank you for making that so much easier than I thought it was going to be." I said to Dr. Webber as I listened to Dana race Riley through the hallways. "It was not easy getting her in the car this morning. So I am thoroughly pleased with how this appointment went. "

"This is my first time ever working with a little but it's not my first time working with children. Plus I have 4 kids of my own. So when Kyle called me I crossed my fingers that I could use that knowledge and those experiences today. I'm glad they payed off. See you next week" She said with a smile and a wave.

"Come on you yahoo's it's time to go home." I said when I finally found Riley and Dana literally rolling down the hallways "I think your scaring the secretaries."