moving along

The kids had their dental checkups a few days ago. Routine things, you know, cleaning, x-rays, fluoride, blah, blah, blah.

The dentist comes out to give me the report. No cavities! Great, Fantastic. Let's get outta here.

Not so fast...K has a molar that is trying to come in and the current tooth is not yet ready to fall out. Okay. Seems normal enuf to me. Just keep wiggling it and it will come out. What's the problem? Well, I would like to give you a week to get it out on your own and if that doesn't happen then she will need to come back in and have it taken out. What? Why? Can't I have more than week? No, I don't think so...actually, why don't you just come on back now and we will pull it out. (At this point I am near hyperventilation) How does one explain to her 11 yr old that right now, this very minute, after you were given the green light, that actually, no, we aren't done. We have just one more little thing to do????

So, I head out the the lobby, 1 yr old squirming in my arms and 8 yr old making it clear that he is ready to go home, to inform 11 yr old that she has to have a tooth extracted...RIGHT NOW.

It went over much better than I had anticipated. I dreaded those few, short steps to the lobby to tell her. We get back there and she gets all set up. There were way too many shots..I think about 8 times to be exact...there was a little crying during the shot process. Then I got to watch them yank a great, big ol tooth outta my tiny, little daughter's head. Yeah. Not so much liking that. Coulda done without ever seeing that.

Dentist gets it pulled out and shows me the tooth, pointing out the huge root still intact and saying this never would have come out on it's own. Be very careful of the tooth. It is very sharp. Uh-huh. Okay. Very sharp, got it.

Puts it in a little purple treasure box, hands me some gauze and a great big bill and we are all done. NO talking for 30 minutes and don't use a straw at all today. Uh-huh. Okay.

Later on that evening, we had a serious talk with the tooth fairy and put in a good word for said 11 yr old.

Next morning...11 yr old comes down...very befuddled...Were you half asleep when you left me this, she asks? Left you what, I say? This 20 bucks. Nope, I say. Getting a tooth pulled outta your head is worth quite a bit in my opinion. Especially when I would have been slobbering like a big baby if I had to do that. And you didn't and you were very brave. So, there you go. 11 yr old is walking off totally giddy. I say, just make sure this doesn't become a habit.