Dentist Miracle

I took Veronica to the dentist yesterday.  Mike took her for her first appointment a few weeks ago, he took Anthony for a checkup on his extraction, and Maria and Veronica had regular checkups.  So what they do at this pediatric dentist, is give you an estimate of what it's going to cost.  I forget what it was going to be for Veronica, because they estimate it for everyone, but it was a LOT.  It was like $1600 or something, because I remember thinking it would be like $3,000 before all was said and done, including Anthony's work.  One of the costs they estimated was for sedation, because I guess she was such a freak during just the checkup.

So all week it was bugging me, I couldn't stand the thought of them sedating that three year old!  Anthony was VERY rough coming up from that sedation, he was crying and so upset, for hours.  If Veronica had it, Mike would have to stay home from work because there's no way I could stay with her and watch the baby.  Also, Veronica has ballet on Fridays and she really likes it, they don't have it next week because of Thanksgiving and I just hated for her to miss it two weeks in a row.  So I told Mike I'd take her to her appointment and just talk to them about it there.

I walked in and checked in - oh this was funny - I haven't been there in a long time, because Mike's been taking them.  He takes Anthony to school and the dentist is right near there, so it's usually him.  It was on the third floor, I knew, but I stopped short at the elevator because I wasn't sure where to go from there.  Veronica took off and said, over her shoulder, "it's over HERE, Mommy!  TO THE LEFT!".  Ha!  Anyway, we went in and they said "has she had anything to eat or drink, MOM?".  I hate when people other than my four children call me mom, fyi.  I said no she hasn't but I want to talk to the dentist, because I don't think I want her sedated.  It's so crazy when you tell any medical professionals that you are going to do something different than they tell you to do.  All of them get the exact same "WHAT?" look in their eyes, no one can BELIEVE you are daring to question the DOCTOR.  In this case, the DOCTOR is a DENTIST, so forgive me if I don't bow down and act like you're a neurosurgeon who went to Harvard.

So we waited, we had a tea party in the waiting room, Veronica was in very good spirits.  I had talked to her about it and I said she could either be made to go to sleep when she had her teeth worked on, and not go to ballet, OR she could just lie down and do what the doctor said, and then she could go to ballet and we would get her a prize and blah blah blah.  The assistant came to get us and she said "now, she's had nothing to eat or drink since midnight, right MOM?" and I said, well, I TOLD the woman up front, but no she hasn't but I'd like to talk to the dentist about it because I don't know if we want to do it.  That woman didn't even say anything!  How SHOCKED she must have been, to not even SAY SOMETHING!  People make me mad.  So we went into the kitchen, where there were permission slips and the medicine all out, just like I HADN'T SAID ANYTHING.  But then the dentist came in, Dr. Kevin, his name is, and he was really, really nice.  I said how I was concerned, blah blah blah and he said "do we have three year olds that can do it?  Yes!  Are there many of them?  NO!".  He said I could stay there and I had to be a 'silent observer', because it can be confusing for a kid when the dentist is saying one thing and the assistant one thing and a mother braying away.  So I said fine, I just wanted to tell Veronica how it was going to be and have it actually be that way.

We went in the room and she started to get tense right away, but I just talked to her and she lay down and started watching the Barbie movie she picked out.  The assistant put a mask of sorts on her with nitris oxide, but it was hard because it was way too big.  She said it was the smallest size but Veronica is a peanut and everything is slightly big on her.  I could see her relaxing from the nitris, at one point she even sort of slung one leg over the other, ha!  It took forever, as usual, for the dentist to come in and she did start to cry a little bit, but she just - stopped and did what he said.  It took a long time, much longer than it took when I took Anthony, but I don't think I realized how fast she did Anthony's.

Oh!  I'm forgetting that they were going to seal the other teeth, like all the other teeth in her head so she didn't get any more cavities.  I said why would we seal baby teeth? and the dentist said that she had 'deep grooves' in her teeth and those are more susceptible to cavities.  Now.  I don't want to call anyone a money grubbing scumbag, but what?  WHAT?  Do baby teeth have deep grooves?  Or just my kids' teeth?  I said my husband and I had more run of the mill, NORMAL teeth, so we were unfamiliar with these deep grooved teeth.  I said that the last year had been kind of crazy at our house, particularly in the morning and at night, and that we are re-committing to teeth care and I wanted to see if that would help our situation so if we could wait, I'd like to.  So he said fine.  Sheesh.

Anyways, he filled them and the assistant - I guess he just drilled them and the assistant filled them and then we were finished!  I can't believe how proud I was of her.  She was really amazing, miraculous, even.  It just goes to show that you can't judge a person by just one facet of their personality.  Veronica is kind of a wussy, she will cry for 20 minutes because she has her feelings hurt, but she is also really tough and a hard worker and she definitely proved it yesterday.  I felt really vindicated as a mother, and I am not kidding when I say that has almost never happened to me the whole TIME I've been a mother, so I was glad for it.  Then we went to ballet, and out to lunch, and all day she was so proud of herself, it really was a great day.

Halloween

Veronica was a fairy for Halloween, Bloom from the Winx Club, to be exact, but that rat fink didn't wear her wig, even though I combed it all out perfectly - PERFECTLY - the night before, but whatever, she looked super cute.  She was also willing to wear her tights and a long sleeved shirt under her costume, unlike a certain sister I know, so I appreciate that.  Here's her picture:

She's pretty, right?  She is so sweet.  She is kind of a kook, I have to say.  You know how she leans on the table like she does?  She and Maria call it 'getting her air out' and she has been getting her air out a LOT lately.  It's funny to hear Mike say, "Veevsy, you're going to have to get your air out later, we have to go!".  I hope it's something she outgrows, or at least I hope she finds a more subtle way to get her air out than to perch on the corner of a table, ha!

She has really been yapping away this week, yap yap yap yap YAP!  Today she made me go in the big room outside of Maria's ballet and she told me SHE was the teacher and WE were pretending to be pigs, so lay down here, Mommy, and OINK!  She told me to grand jete, and to turn and when I did it, she said "that's not right!".  She is bossy but it's so cute, she is really finding her way.  She loves school and her best friend this year is named Rosie.  Some day maybe I'll post something else about her but mostly she is my real heart girl and I am madly in love with her.