Dentist: Bobby's First Time!

Unfortunately, here the dental appointments all have to be in pairs for the children.  Once upon a time, I was able to schedule them all back to back and be done with it twice a year, plus my appointments.  Hannah and Genevieve had appointments two weeks ago.  Drew had one by himself, and then Isaac had to have a separate one following his orthodontist appointment.  Then the two youngest were scheduled to go at the same time as my appointment.  Altogether this month, between all trips to the doctor and dentist, we had a total of 11 appointments.  That is not including one trip to the ER and the cancelled pre-op and surgery for Judah's hernia.  I sort of did this clustering of appointments on purpose because our road that has been closed forever finally opened for the winter break and it will be closing again in the middle of February.  Judah's surgery was cancelled because he got a fever about four days before it was scheduled.  The ER trip was for Hannah this time.  She hurt her thumb in basketball and I wanted to get x-rays to confirm it wasn't broken.  They gave her a brace to wear while the sprain healed. 

*Since beginning to write this post, I had to take Isaac to the ER as well.  We had a trip planned the next day with Brian's family that was visiting and he was crying form ear pain for the second night in a row.  I have been spoiled and never had to wait long at the ER, or I wouldn't have taken him.  We got there at 9pm and didn't leave until 3am.  He did have an ear infection and a perforated eardrum as well.*

Back to my story about the dentist.  It was an early appointment and I had to drop Drew off at Kindergarten on our way.  It was also snowing that morning and the roads looked okay, but I am always nervous once the roads get white because of the whole getting stuck coming up our hill in December.  We make it there on time, but not before I step out of the van at the Kindergarten and realize that I am wearing my slippers.

Nice look, right?

Judah volunteered to go first and show Bobby how it is done.  He was such a big boy and did great!

And then came Bobby's turn.  He started out fine, but halfway through he started to want down and not open his mouth.  I sat in the chair and held him and talked him through it.  I really think the only reason he opened his mouth again was to get a toy like the one that she had given to Judah.

Then it was my turn and the boys happily played with their toy poppers while I sat in the chair.  Congrats, Bob, on your first dental experience ever and there were no tears!

Under the Knife

Isaac has been undergoing orthodontic care for about a year now.  I've mentioned before his palatal expander, his head gear, and his braces.  Well, he has broken a few of the devices.  He clenches his jaw at night and on several occasions, things have broken or come apart while he was sleeping.  Eventually his expander broke for good.  They had to take it out and make new molds for a temporary one.  However, they messed up the molds somehow and the temp didn't fit right.  So they ordered a new one.  (They take a long time to get over here.)

While that was off, the doctor wanted to go ahead and have his oral surgery to remove the baby tooth that disappeared back into his gums.  It really was out and then it was slowly disappearing and during our move here, it completely was covered by the other baby teeth.  The oral surgeon was able to take it out and the tooth in front of it since it was wiggly already.  This was the surgery he went under the knife for.  He was nervous, but he did really well.  I was very proud of him considering how scared he'd been about it at first.

I was concerned it was going to be a major recovery with a long term liquid diet, but he bounced back quickly.  It was a very fast surgery, and he was able to go home within four or so hours of walking into the hospital.  I spoiled him with ice cream and movies that first day.  I'm glad that's completed and we now are waiting on our appointment to get his expander back on and one to get his teeth cleaned.  Hopefully, they can give him a night guard to help with the teeth grinding.

First Trip to the Dentist for Judah

First off, Drew is getting radiographs (well, blurry ones anyway) and we are sitting outside a couple rooms with the doors open.  Judah walks away from me a little and then walks right back to me.  He says in a toddler whisper, serious as can be, "Mom, I think they killed someone."

I laughed and said, "No, they didn't!  Why do you think that?"

"There's a head in there," he answers with a look in the direction of the first door.

I lean way over to see what he is talking about, and, sure enough, there is a rubber head laying on it's side on the counter.  I think he was nervous about his first dental appointment.  What do you think?

Next, was Drew's turn in the chair.  He told me later that the machine taking the pictures of his teeth was the one moving, not him.  I tried to explain that the machine is supposed to move, but he also must have moved or the pictures wouldn't have been blurry.  He kept trying to re-explain how it was the machine's fault and not his.  Super cute!

Can you see Bobby trying to nab the star glasses?

 Judah watched Drew and the dentist so closely and silently.  Bob played with his cars in the corner.  Then when it was Judah's turn.  He had already decided that he wanted the blue star sunglasses to wear while she cleaned his teeth.   (Drew had picked the plain blue ones.  They are so different.)  When Judah put the star glasses on, Bobby went over and pulled them right off his face.  He is completely obsessed with stars at the moment.  When the dentist walked back in and saw Bob wearing the glasses, she offered the purple star glasses to him so Judah could have the ones he wanted.  Bob cares not about colors, so problem solved.  He wore those glasses the whole time we were there.  When he did take them off he immediately walked up to me saying his trademark, "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom."  You get the picture.  He says my name a lot, mostly to show me things.  I'd put them back on and he was happy again.

I think I might die from the cuteness!

Only other news about the dentist is that Judah's teeth don't meet because I have been putting off taking away his pacifier (AKA "Bubba") at night because he loves it so much and he is actually excited to go to bed because that is the only time he can have it.  We're starting the talks about giving his Bubbas away to another baby and picking out a toy with mommy at the store to replace it.  Hoping to do it soon, but he just came down with an illness so we'll see.

Big Boy Updates

Going to school in the morning

Drew and Judah are doing well at Kindergarten, but they have not made too much progress in the language department.  Drew has picked up some terms that he hears frequently.  Judah really enjoys "going to school," and often doesn't want to leave.  He's made lots of friends he tells me.  When I asked who is best friend is, he said, "Everybody!"  I would say that I definitely see improvements in the relationship between Drew and Judah which is what I was hoping for.  

Changing into house shoes before school...they all have to have gym shoes and house shoes in addition to their regular shoes.  In the fall and winter they wear the house shoes inside only to keep all the leaves, mud, and snow outside.  

Isaac got his palatal expander in October.  We had to turn the key once a day to make it expand his upper jaw for over a month.  It has created a big gap between his front two teeth.  That is exactly what was intended so there would be room for the rest of his teeth, most importantly to see if the baby tooth that is stuck under his gums and other teeth will come down if given room.  Then about a month after getting his expander, they gave him a face mask to wear when he sleeps to help pull his top jaw forward.  It actually only attaches to the hooks on his expander.  It doesn't go around his head like what I had imagined.  I was a little concerned that it would make it hard to sleep, but he sleeps solid until morning.  He's a little sore in the morning, but only for a short time.  I've been very impressed with how he's handled everything.  Isaac has been a real trooper about the whole thing even though he was nervous at first.  He didn't even mind me posting his picture on the blog.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How many people can say that they were in Austria on Valentine's Day when they got their first tooth?  This little guy can!  The only way I even knew it was through was when he chewed on my finger, I felt it.  Bobby is a special little guy!

Oh, the sweetness overload!

He may be my earliest to get teeth.  I'll have to check.

You can see my Bobby's dimples in this one.

What a couple of sweethearts!  

I'm posting this before the giant Austria trip post because, well, this one is shorter.  ;)

Isaac lost his first tooth!

He's six and a half and it finally happened.  The permanent tooth is mostly grown in behind it already.  This guy's teeth really don't like to come out.  One of his baby molars has decided to stay and has moved way up in his gums to make room.  Orthodontist, here we come!  Actually, we've already been to him and he said that we can't do anything until the permanent molars come in to brace a palatal expander to.

You can barely see the space since the big tooth is behind it.  It is the bottom right (your right) incisor.

Brian and I have a secret system for getting teeth that are barely hanging on out.  I say, "Wow!  Go show Dad and see what he thinks about that."  They show Brian and her reaches in and thumps it out if it's loose enough.  That's what we did with Isaac who is the most afraid of pain of all our children.  In fact, he'll burst into tears if you even mention braces or a palatal expander to him even though it isn't happening anytime soon.

We were out of little zip lock baggies when he lost his tooth and so I wrapped it in a napkin and told him to put it in his tooth fairy pillow pocket like that.  He went upstairs and comes back distraught because he was showing it to Hannah and he lost it on the floor somewhere.  I told him to just write a note to the tooth fairy like Hannah did when she dropped her's down the drain.  He did and I so enjoyed reading his note when I went to collect the note and put a dollar in his pillow pocket.

The funny thing is he totally knows I am the tooth fairy, just like the girls did by the time they lost their tooth, but he still wrote such a sincere note.

Hannah lost her twelfth tooth this week as well.  Tooth fairy has been busy around here.

Another Tooth Gone!

Genna's missing both her top front teeth now!

That tooth has been hanging down and driving me nuts since the other tooth came out.  She looked like a hillbilly or something.  Brian tried to thump it out a couple times one night which just made it worse and it just didn't seem quite ready to come out easily.  The next morning, he gave it another try and it came out.  I stay out of this tooth business since I had most of my teeth pulled by a dentist with laughing gas.  I am a wuss about teeth.  Don't know how all my children have been so brave about it so far.

A Genius Genevieve Idea

Genevieve's genius idea for how to get her front tooth out was to put tape on her teeth and rip it off.  She, of course, did not account for the slipperiness of her teeth that prevents the tape from sticking.  I thought it was a funny and adorable idea so I told her of the potential trouble she might come across, but it would be fun to give it a try and see for herself.  Obviously, it didn't work.  I suggested a good bite into an apple, but when push came to shove she didn't quite have the guts for that.  (I certainly don't blame her there!)  She decided just to wait until it was a little bit looser, and a few days later it came out while she was brushing her teeth.

See the gap!

The other top one is pretty loose, so it is only a matter of time until we have to famous "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" smile.  This is only her third tooth to lose, and I don't think she has ever remembered to look under her pillow to see if she got a dollar for her tooth.  I always have to remind her to go look.

Toothless Uncle Lou

Today Hannah finally lost her first tooth!


It is a sad day for mommy. My baby is growing up too fast.