Dental Triumph

Perhaps not every parent would consider getting a cavity filled a triumph, but today, I do. Stomper had a cavity. I'm sorry to say that this whole 'going to the dentist' thing has added a whole new level of maternal guilt to my life - how much plaque does he have? How many cavities? What about his gums? Is it all my fault? Yes! Just kidding, but you know how it goes. Every mother (by that I mean me,) seems to feel incomplete without a nice dollop of guilt to be carried (at least in my case) right in my shoulder muscles. Not to mention the fact that I am extremely tense about my own dental proceedings. I'm afraid I have projected some of that anxiety on my poor son. I didn't take him to the dentist for quite some time because I thought he'd wig out. He didn't. He did fine. Then at his last visit we found he had one tiny cavity. I did not want to be the one taking him in to get it fixed because I was afraid he'd wig out. He didn't. He did fine. I have to say that our dentist, a Dr. J. Connolly, is awesome with kids, as is his hygienist. Stomper had no idea what was going on, he just hung out happily watching the DVD player in the ceiling, and he was fixed up in no time. No resisting, no squirming, no tension. Except from me. I should have been very proud of my son, and of course I was. But I reserve my real praise for who else, ME!. Way to go not freaking out, Mom!

And in other dental news, Stomper has, count 'em, FOUR loose teeth! He's only 5 1/2, and both his top front and his bottom front teeth are very wiggly. I have to say I think he's lucky. I felt like it took forever to get a loose tooth, and I don't recall having more than one loose at a time. He's going to look a little silly with all four missing at once.

And now in other unrelated news, I have to say that we have developed a strange little ritual that I have come to totally enjoy. On Monday nights we've been making a concerted effort to have a very low-key Family Home Evening. We do like to begin with singing a little primary song before a prayer and a story, but the kids really like to each choose a silly song to sing before the more serious "opening" song. Well, it's fallen into a pattern. Bitty really likes to sing "Princesses." Have you heard of this song? Neither had we, but that didn't mean we didn't have to sing it for her. So we made it up. To the tune of Jingle Bells you sing, "Princesses, Princesses, Princesses we love, Oh what fun it is to ride with a Princess by your side, hey!" Forgive the lyrics, I was making them up as I went along, and they stuck. Now every Monday night we find ourselves singing it together as a family, to be followed by Stomper's usual choice, "Dinosaurs Popping on the Apricot Tree." I think you can figure that one out. Anyway, it's very silly, but it always gets the evening started off right.

And finally, I must post a picture of Bitty, who went on a ton of errands with me last week to get ready for that party on Friday night. One of our stops was at a party store, and she had been such a trooper that I let her choose a party hat (she loves those things) as well as a giant twisty sucker. As we were driving along to the next stop she zonked out. This is not a great picture, being from my cell phone, but it was worth it:



Yes, folks, she's asleep with the sucker (look Ma, no hands!) lodged between her teeth. I guess I'd better not procrastinate her first dentist appointment as long as I did Stompers....even though I'm sure she'll totally wig out, right?