Tuesday, May 1, 2012

On the Road

While I'm away on business (ie, alone in a hotel room with free wifi and my laptop), I figured I'd catch up on a few bloggable family items.


Lily and I went to her first "real" dentist appointment last week.  It wasn't her first real appointment, that was almost a year ago, but it was her first "real" appointment.  Allow me to explain.  The FIRST appointment Lily had the lady put her fingers in Lily's mouth and then she extracted the pieces of the fingers that were left and the examination was essentially over.  Lily was a mess.  She was being restrained by Leslie and I, she was crying and gagging and sad and afraid, and . . . it sucked.  And I really didn't leave the appointment with any sort of warm-fuzzy feeling regarding what they could possibly have observed in the ten seconds it took for Lily to bite the fingers off the hands of the hygienist.


So we got a referral.  The new dentist was officially a pediatric dentist who was very experienced with special needs patients.  And you know what?  I think he really was.  Lily was no less upset.  Well. . . maybe a little less upset, but he handled it like a pro.  He probably OVER explained the things he was doing, talking calmly and soothingly to her, showing her the tools he was using and explaining their purposes.  The assistant held Lily's hands away from her mouth and from the dentist, but didn't straight-jacket her or anything, just kept the dentist out of harm's way.  And Lily tried to bite off his fingers too. . . he just had a knack for keeping his fingers in places where Lily's teeth weren't.


So Lily has no cavities.  As we left the appointment I asked the doctor about loose teeth.


"Did you notice if she had any loose teeth?" I asked.


"You know, I didn't," he replied frankly.


"Oh.  Well she just lost her first tooth a couple months ago," I told him.


"Well, first teeth usually come out within six months of each other."


And I we bid him farewell.


A week later Lily lost her second tooth.  THIS time we got it.  She lost it at school and they packed the little chicklet up and sent it home to us where we. . . er. . .the toothfairy can store it with all the other collected teeth.


She got a $5 bill under her pillow as payment.  Must have been some SWEET ivory in that bad boy.


Meanwhile, Emma, who had been pining for a chance to pitch her first game of the softball season, finally got her chance last Friday.


In order to understand how well she did you must first understand math.  There are six innings in a 10U (age 10 and under) softball game.  Each inning has three outs.  That's 18 total outs for an entire game.


Caught up?  Okay.  Emma struck out 15 kids.  That's three total outs that the infielders had to make in order to end the game.  Except that one of the three Emma fielded and threw to third, to get another out.  16 out of the 18 outs for an entire game were from Emma.  Does it sound like I'm bragging her up?  I totally am, so I hope it sounds that way, otherwise it's just bad writing.


To be fair the team she played just could not hit.  But. . . also to be fair, she was throwing right where she needed to be throwing.  Almost every pitch.  It was great for her.  She got the game ball.  It would have been tough to give it to anyone else.  They won 13 - 1.


I still owe you a potty training blog.  To be honest, I sorta don't want to jinx things.  Meh. . . screw it.  The potty training was more or less a failure.  But SINCE the potty training her accidents have gone WAY down.


She used to average anywhere from 3 - 5 accidents a day.  Now we're closer to 1 or 2.  This past weekend she was dry the whole time.  Not one accident.  A couple days before that she went two days without an accident.  So potty accidents have been WAY down.  And for no real reason, since it was VERY apparent that the potty training itself, at least in the heat of the moment, was a bust.


Lily and Emma relaxing. . . 
I'll still be updating everyone on fund raising.  I'm just SO amazed at the response, it would be hard for me to stop gushing about it.  We've had a couple hundred more dollars pledged since the last update a couple days ago. . .


I'm in Orlando tonight and I miss my family, but at least it's an excuse to catch up on the blog a little.


23 comments:

  1. $5!!! This is why I'm glad I live in Canada. The Tooth Fairy doesn't gouge us.

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    1. I don't understand. I don't have to PAY the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy pays HER! What kind of crazy Canadian tooth fairy do you have?

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  2. Our tooth fairy is a real whore.

    Col planking picture.

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  3. Our tooth fairy give out four quarters unless she forgets then she doles out two dollar bills. Don't ever let her make that mistake.

    And the kids are cute, potty training tanks and I think I need Alex to help me on the math.

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    1. sometimes our tooth fair robs money from one kid to pay the other kid.

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  4. Our tooth fairy gives a dollar and a dental hygiene item, like a cool electric toothbrush or neon blue mouthwash.

    Sounds like a win this week, not only for the dentist, but for Emma's softball team. Way to go!!!

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    1. dental hygiene item? neon blue mouthwash? cool?

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  5. Go Emma! I will eternally hope upon hope that Lily never has a cavity. I'm glad you found a good dentist.

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  6. Lily sounds so much like Tootles on the dentist appt! Weird. We had that same first visit and the dentist got bit. The second appointment though - that was our emergency ... we still haven't had a "regular" appt. As for potty training, Yay! Less accidents is the right direction... The potty training seed has been planted - she will decide when she is ready for the rest!

    Yeah for Emma - that's a lot of outs!

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  7. We just lost three teeth... Two mysteriously disappeared. this happens way too fast in so many ways.

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  8. Yay for Lily's dentist appointment AND for her losing a tooth when you could find it! And ALSO, yay, Emma's game! What amazing girls!

    Oh, and whoo-hoo for more donations! That's wonderful!

    Hope you're home safe!

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  9. I used to pitch softball so I know first hand what an accomplishment Emma has made... you go on and brag that girl up, Jim -- she DESERVES it!

    The pediatric dentist sounds like a real find -- I need to book with ours for the Little Miss, but I'm procrastinating until the summer... at least that way I'll have the whole day to get her back to Earth after the appointment!

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    1. Yeah, I like him. The appointment went WICKED fast too.

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  10. Good job, Lily! Dentists fingers taste like mint when you first start but awful when you really get into the meaty part.

    Yay Emma! Good for her!!! I hope you dated that ball and boxed it. That's a keeper, man!

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    Replies
    1. She got everyone on the team to sign it. We put it with her other game balls (bragbragbrag).

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  11. That's great about the dentist! I'm so glad to know there are professionals out there who really do have experience and care and can be helpful.

    Also great about the softball game and fewer potty accidents. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the good times continue!

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  12. We go to a dentist who treats kids with special needs but I finally had to tell them to just stop explaining everything. The goal was to get her teeth looked at and while we appreciated the over-explanation, our Lily could care less. The bottom line is she is only going to sit still for so long so get in, look around, do what you need to do, and get out. Wam Bam Thank you Ma'am. The visits have been better since then.

    And on the Emma front - did she secure her position as the permanent pitcher for the team? I should think so....

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