then sometimes, we have a chance to redeem ourselves. And today we did. We took
the kids to the dentist.
Josh and I have never been big on going to the dentist - it's not that we
don't believe in clean teeth and flossing and free toothbrushes, because we do.
It's just that dental insurance is a thing of the past and man alive, have you
seen the price menu at a dentist's office lately? Me neither. And that's because
doctors in general will not tell you how much anything will cost until after
they have seen you, at which time it's a little too late to change your mind and
leave.
But the confession doesn't stop there. Not only are we not good at taking
the kids - or ourselves - to the dentist, we actually have another option - a very
good childhood friend of Josh's is a dentist, a wonderful, giving, kind guy who
enjoys seeing us (we hope!) and generously sees us for free. Yeah, you heard me
right. He won't take any money from us. And so you must be asking, what, in
the name of gingivitis, is wrong with you people? And you would be right to
ask. So I'll tell you. Our dentist friend, Dr. Eddie, lives and works very far
away from our general locale - which is generally our living room. He's a good
hour and a half away, turning a visit to the dentist into an all day event.
If you have been following along, you will know that our oldest recently lost a tooth,
so we kind of figured it was time to go to the dentist for real. As in to pack up the car, the kids and the cooler and go. So we did. And shockingly, we survived. Not only did Josh and I have our teeth x-rayed and cleaned (don't you love that clean teeth feeling? Kind of makes you not want to eat anything. Ha, are you laughing? Cause I am. I always
want to eat something) but the boys had their teeth cleaned and counted too. And
we learned the cutest thing today - when counting teeth, baby teeth are counted
using the ABC and grownup teeth and counted with numbers. Who knew? Not me.
Anyway, unless you are very new around here, by now you will know that we
pack the cooler with snacks when we drive 15 minutes to my parents house, so can
you even imagine what happened when we packed to drive 90 minutes to the
dentist? Wait, I'll show you, you don't have to imagine. And when I took this
picture, I wasn't done packing. I know.
and that, my friends, is a sure sign of maturity, because if you have ever been
to the pediatrician with us, you will be familiar with the sounds of children
wailing and the screech of waiting room chairs being slid across the floor as children cling to them for dear life. One of my kids, at the age of 18 months, once grabbed the
car keys and ran out of the doctor's office, naked, in a bid to get away. So
when the boys hopped into the dentist's chair, I knew that the tooth fairy must
be smiling on us.
Dr. Eddie was awesome. He let the boys wear sunglasses, a brilliant
diversionary tactic and they opened their mouths. I consider that a mission
accomplished. We only used the bathroom in the office fifteen times. We only
left four different kinds of crumbs on the waiting room floor and we only asked
for three extra dentist party bags - my kids have birthday on the brain. They
weren't actually party bags, just those super awesome bags with free
toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss in neon colors! Yahoo!
stopping at a playground, we did - and had a picnic. I love picnics in the
summer. In the shade. With straws. We had all of those things today. Yum.