Controlling Anxiety

Luci decided to listen to her music while getting a filling. Smart of her to figure this out on her own!

Just when I thought it was over...

...along comes another Luci-ism!

I'm home sick today--the gastrointestinal virus has hit. John and Bryan are out on a job, so it falls to JT to take Luci to the dentist.

JT and Luci left early, to visit the Verizon store before the dentist.

Luci called to ask me a question about the dental visit:

When is my disappointment again?

Look, Ma! No Cavities!

Luci and I had an appointment for teeth-cleaning and came back with a no-cavity report.  Yay!

But Luci is showing some serious need for braces....

And earlier last week, I found this sweet surprise on the top of a new carton of Daisy Sour Cream--a tiny heart!

SNOW!

We had a dusting of snow! That makes any day grand around here. Today I took Luci to the dentist. The visit went well. She had a sedative to help her be calm and it made like a happy, drunken 4 year old. She was pretty funny and talked a mile a minute. But on the way home, she chewed a hole in her lip and it looks pitiful. Oh, I feel so sorry for her!

Now we are watching the Inauguration. What an incredible day, knowing that our country can pass power from one party to the other without bloodshed. To know that my kids think nothing is out of the ordinary when an African-American takes the lead because they see no difference in skin color...they see the person. We wish our President well!

So Thankful!

Tom, my brother, made it through a heart surgery just fine today. He's probably the healthiest of my brothers, certainly Mr. Physical Fitness growing up, so this need of his was a surprise to me. We're praying for your complete recovery, Tom. (By the way, Bryan looks so much like Tom to me--sometimes it really astounds me how much his personality is like Tom's, too.)

Luci had two cavities filled Monday, and scaredy-cat that she is, I wasn't expecting it to go well. It went great. She had meds to help her be calm and then some laughing gas...and that TV on the ceiling helped, too. We get to do this again in two weeks.

And Luci made it to Af ghan istan! John picked her up in his mail today.

Qualifies as almost a Miracle

Luci had some suspicious spots on her teeth...at least the dentist thought so last July when Luci wouldn't cooperate and just screamed at the dentist...they could only look in when she was yelling. So today we had a consult visit at a dentist that specializes in children. Luci did fantastically! Once I got her out of the van, anyway. It was hilarious trying to drag her out of the van. She was horizontal, holding onto the seat belt in the back seat, and I was pulling on legs, trying to not pull off her pants. Looked like a cartoon.

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After signing her in, Luci calmed down. That was surprising, to say the least. And when she was called back, she didn't even hold my hand! She followed the woman into the lair...

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and climbed up on the x-ray chair (helps to call it a princess throne) and had her first ever teeth x-rays. The area for tooth inspection didn't look anything like a dentist's office. It is charming! When have you ever heard a dentist's office described as charming?! I wish I could go to this dentist. Luci climbed right up on the table, and watched cartoons from a tv hanging from the ceiling. I would want to watch HGTV.

She was very brave! I am so proud of Luci, and so pleased with Dr. Lentz. Luci acted so calm but you could see the tension if you knew where to look. Both hands had fingers crossed like this:

We have to go back. That quick look the first dentist had was correct. Luci has small cavities in the last tooth on the top and bottom, on both sides. 4 teeth, 4 cavities. So we go back in January in two visits, and now I am not dreading the appointments ahead of time.