flea

By 8:30, Casper had finally learned to ride a two-wheeler bike.

By 9:45, Casper had lost her 8th tooth. (I pulled it out for her!)

By 10:15, Michael returned from a quick run to the pet store to buy cat food with an adolescent cat. Simon is male, 6 months old, healthy except for some conjunctivitis under treatment. Voila:

mr. flea took the Dillo to the dentist today. You may recall he'd had multiple cavities filled in January of this year. Well, now he apparently needs 4 caps, and one is so bad they might have to just pull the tooth and put in a spacer until the permanent tooth comes in.

We brush the child's teeth. They took x-rays in January and took care of everything that showed up at all. And yet in the ensuing 6 months, he got cavities so bad he now needs caps and might lose a tooth? What the hell?

Casper got crown #1 today. She was apparently fine at the dentist, but after they were home for a while the novocaine wore off and she was crying in pain. (mr. flea called the dentist and they said that the pain was probably because they seat the crown under the gumline, not from the pulpotomy action.) Motrin is helping.

And I'm at work, and not home with my baby whose cavities are all my fault anyway. Wah.

Took Dillo to the dentist. He was very cooperative. He has cavities in 5-6 of his front teeth, deep enough that they should be filled. So, we're doing that in January.

The office does Versed sedation, and doesn't allow the parents back into the rooms. Cash, Steph, does this jive with your experiences of fillings in preschoolers? I felt good about the office and the dentist was clear and frank. It still won't be fun. Also, expensive.

And of course this is a parenting fail - several of the cavities are in full view on the front of his front teeth. He hates to brush teeth and doesn't really spit, so we have been lax and haven't done fluoridated toothpaste yet.

Argh, argh, argh.

Dillo is running around the house with his pull-up pulled down so his penis is sticking out the top. he's also shouting, "penis power!"

Our beta fish Rosalina has been getting increasingly sick. She's got some kind of fin ick, and her gills are all poking out, and she has no appetite and lies at the bottom of the bowl. We've given her some kind of antibiotic and added an anti-ammonia treatment to the water this week; right now mr. flea is changing the water with some water her has carefully let sit for 24 hours in the sun (I had been just using a de-chlorinator). I hope she perks up soon. Casper is actually fairly soigne about the possible demise of her fish.

My teeth are still remarkably sore. I think everything is fine - I can sort of feel the stitches and it's a little weird. I just thought I would have stopped needing painkillers by now, 5 days in. I do okay for a while, but then ache sets in and it makes my whole head ache. Also, the most painful thing is yawning, which is kind of funny.

We looked at new Toyotas today. I don't think we're going to buy soon, but mr. flea has been talking with a coworker about whether a more fuel-efficient car or doing the house projects would reduce our carbon footprint more. I liked the 2010 Prius (it's a redesign), and it has an adjustable driver's side seat. The only one they had on the lot had a moon roof, which reduces head room by more than an inch, but I think without it mr. flea would be okay on clearance. We also looked at a Matrix, which isn't available in a hybrid. That had tons of head room, but it felt a little cheaper somehow (it is, technically, cheaper, of course). Both are hatchbacks which I love and miss. We'll be in the market for a car in a year or two (we currently drive a 2000 Focus), so I think we may wait things out and try to get a nearly-new 2010 Prius at that point. Almost all of our driving is stop-and-go city stuff, and we'd get nearly double the mileage in a Prius. But if we decide we can't afford one, it's good to know that a used Matrix would probably be a fine and widely available choice.

Meanwhile we need to start calling some contractors to get a sense of what fixing the home energy audit stuff would even cost. I don't have any sense at all. And it would be nice to insulate the upstairs enough so that when we come home in the afternoon it isn't 87 degrees in our bedroom. That's with the whole-house AC set at 78. With the bathroom vent fan, we can usually get it down to bearable (82-83 with ceiling fan on) by bedtime. But, really!

I took the afternoon off work and psyched myself up to visit a new dentist today. A new dentist who had been personally vetted by my stepfather (a dentist), selected by me looking up the periodontists in town, Stepfather asking his periodontist buddy if he knew either of them, calling the one the periodontist knew, asking him who he thought was a good dentist in town, and calling the dentist himself to grill him. I printed out the coverage manual for my insurance and was all ready to discuss many things. Remember, I hate everything to do with dentistry and as a result, have to work really hard to keep my normally calm and rational self functioning during an office visit.

I went to the appointment and discovered that my appointment is actually for a month from now. I made it 2 weeks ago - I guess I must have mentally placed it in the wrong month because I couldn't believe it would be a 6-week wait just to have a preliminary appointment. (Note: I have a broken tooth with a raw edge right now, and they knew this when they made the appointment.)

So, this may be the magic dentist. If I ever get in to SEE the guy. And now I feel like an idiot, and can't go take a nap because the Home Energy Audit guy is here blowing our ducts. (The air leakage in this house is INCREDIBLE; it was like a gale force wind coming out of the pocket doors when he did the blower door test. More on this at my house blog when he's done.)

This morning:

Just now:


Unfortunately, the tooth has now fallen between the window and sill of a window which we cannot open. mr. flea is considering going in search of a crowbar to force the window open.

When she went to the dentist a while back the hygienist reported that Casper has a couple of baby teeth that were likely to go soon. And indeed, her bottom two front teeth are loose - the right one very wiggly indeed.

We're all rather silly-excited about this. Although Casper told me yesterday that she knows the truth about the Tooth Fairy. (What truth she knows, she didn't say).

I have a Sacajawea dollar stashed in my sock drawer for the enventuality.

Dillo insists he has loose teeth too, of course. He has to do EVERYTHING Casper does right now.

I got, like 6 little fillings last month. I have still the other side of my mother to go, and to let them yank my widsom teeth, but I thought I was doing okay, you know? Yes, there was the total clusterfuck about the insurance (office says: you have total coverage! insurance says, after work is done: you have total coverage if you have amalgam fillings, not these bonded porcelain fillings you just got! porcelain you got no coverage at all! office says: oops! let's try re-billing insurance pretending they were amalgam! to be continued...)

Well, one of those goddamned motherfucking fillings just fucking broke in my fucking mouth and it's all sharp and ridgy and I HATE TEETH I HATE THEM I HATE THEM.

Although the doctor was nicely diligent about making sure it's not Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Also, the poor resident's last name is Pepper. DOCTOR Pepper, people. I'd have become a minister or a shoe salesman, man.

I meant to do a State of the Dillo for his birthday, and I just now discovered his top 2 molars are coming through, so it's time, eh?

Teeth: 10. Front 8 are fully in; 2 upper molars both through on outside edges.

Motion: Can stand alone for about 30 seconds, and sit down without crashing from a stand. Cruises well. Does not walk holding fingers at all. Crawls wicked fast.

Talk: Clearly says (with intent): uh-oh, mama. Might say with intent: dada, nana for nursie. Says without intent - lots and lots of other sounds. Clearly understands some of what we say to him. My favorite: teaching him to moo like a cow (I really need to upload this video to Youtube.)

Play: loves to put stuff in stuff. Loves wheeled things - to push cars around, to turn them over and spin the wheels. Really does seem to be "boy" playing, as opposed to Casper. But he does like her baby dolls (and especially to slobber on their big plastic heads.)

Eats: kind of erratic - less interested in self-feeding than Casper was. As a result he eats a lot at school, where they feed him, and less at home. Will completely snarf up fruit though - blueberries, grapes, cherries, watermelon, ripe peach. Does not like cheese or yogurt, but drinks milk and will beg for ice cream.

Has just started to how interest in watching TV/videos. Hates long car rides, and sometimes even short ones.