Thursday, September 25, 2014

I Took Four Kids to the Dentist, Kinda Thinking I Deserved A Goody Bag!


The kids had early dismissal from school yesterday, so I took all 4 of them to the dentist for check-ups and cleanings.  No cavities -- hooray!!  Just another baby tooth of Little Girl's with a deadline, one month for her to wiggle it out or we need to come in and let the dentist pull it.  She has had this drama with nearly all her teeth, the adult tooth grows in with the baby tooth still there!

It is getting easier the taking of 4 kids to the dentist by myself, but I have to say it still exhausts me.  Really, I've said before, but there are times when having 4 kids does not feel like a lot and then there are times when it feels like a bunch.  Taking them all to the dentist is one of the "it's a whole lot!"  times.

It starts as soon as I walk in the door and walk up to the receptionist.  She asks me how many kids I need forms for (because you know even though we've seen this dentist for 9 years there are always still forms!), and I say, "Four."  She sucks in her breath and says, "Whoa."  And I reply, "Yeah, I know.  That's pretty much a thought I have every day."

She takes pity on me and allows me to combine the 4 children onto one form for 2 of the forms, but the healthy inventory I must fill out one for each child.  I think I manage to get the right birthday on the right child's form and list their allergies and who has had their adenoids removed and who has not.

From there it is pretty much assembly-line, three-fourths of the kids through x-rays, all 4 through teeth-cleaning, and all 4 then cycle one by one through the dentist's chair where he checks them and discusses with me what's going on with their teeth.

One thing I have learned to expect when taking 4 kids to the doctor or dentist, there are never enough chairs for everyone.  Doctor exam rooms typically have 2, maybe 3 chairs and there are 5 of us.  The dentist has more chairs but there are other patients and parents there, too.  It was less awkward when the kids were smaller, but for now we can still send Little Girl to sit on the floor in the toy area and the 7 year old can sit on my lap if he has to.

Still way better combining them all into one afternon than taking them to the dentist two at a time and having to visit the pediatric dentist 4 times a year instead of just twice!

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I cleaned out the kid bathroom cabinet that has pretty much every product ever made for Little Girl's hair.  My 11 year old walked in when I had pulled a bunch of the bottles out on the counter so I could organize the cabinet and he thought it was hilarious how much stuff I had and had to run get the camera to take a picture. I can admit that buying conditioner, various curling puddings and gels is one way I compensate for being a white mama to my black daughter.  The sad thing is that picture really only captures about a fourth of what I have as I'd already started putting things back in the cabinet when he walked in!

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We've had some amazing cooler temperatures the past few days.  My girls enjoyed some bike riding:


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Here's a photo of the elaborate game my 2nd grader came up with to help learn his spelling words.  It is amazingly complicated, really, and convinced me what the kid lacks in natural spelling ability he more than makes up for with creativity.  His test is tomorrow and he still has trouble spelling "difference" and "Tuesday", but in the long run of life, there's always spell-checker, right?



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Happy Friday and Happy Fall!

Half-Past Kissin' Time

3 comments:

  1. I remember taking my kids to the dentist all at once. I feel your pain. My doctor was smarter he would tell to wait at home and he would come to me. I used the time to bake and the doctor would go home with a pie for his family. Have a good weekend.

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  2. Four kids at the dentist-- Now THAT is a job! I yiyi. Only bad part about four of them at a time is four bills at a time! Sigh. But high five on being cavity-free.

    You live in a lovely place--- So lush and green. Los Angeles is in a drought and we're loosing "green" by the day.

    Happy weekend and Happy Friday Fragments.

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  3. Way to go to your son for coming up with some way to try to remember those difficult words! I don't remember it being that big of a deal to take all 3 of my boys in to the dentist at the same time, but I definitely don't remember having to fill out forms every time I took them. Times have changed, for sure!

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