Whoopdidoo!!

For the past 2 or 3 weeks, there has been a Whooping Cough outbreak in our school district. The majority of the cases are in the high schools (49 out of the 55 reported cases) with the other 6 scattered throughout the rest of the district.

I haven't really been too concerned about it because the preschool Jake and Emma go to is actually in another district. On top of that, I think we are the only people at the preschool from our district so I didn't really think about "cross-contamination" or anything like that.

Because I live in a bubble...and it burst yesterday

The preschool has had 2 reported cases of Whooping Cough in the last 3 days. Just to give you an idea of how that might affect us: there are 4 rooms in the preschool (basically, it's one hallway of our church). Jake's and Emma's classes occupy the rooms on the left side of the hall. The kids who are sick are in the classrooms on the right side of the hall. Because Jake is in the 4 year old class, he actually gets to switch rooms once a day with the class...across the hall.

Have I ever mentioned I'm a hypochondriac? If I get a hangnail, I'm convinced that in a week I'll drop over dead of pneumonia (which I found out yesterday our pastor has). Evidently hypochondria crosses generational lines because know i just "KNOW" that Jake and Emma will both have Whooping Cough within the week. Never mind that they don't actually have to go back to school next week because of Thanksgiving. I just "KNOW" that they are going to get it.

Did you know that Whooping Cough has a 9-21 day incubation period? And that it can last for 2-10 weeks? And that it sounds like this? And that it can cause cracked ribs and pneumonia?

Even anyone has any spare surgical masks and Lysol that you could send my way, I would be most appreciative.

My Growing Boy

I think we are in the midst of a pretty major growth spurt for Jacob. It remains to be seen, though, if it will manifest itself in some serious weight gain or some serious inches gained. And at 4 years old, he's got pounds and inches to spare on most of his peers.

As of today, he's 3' 8.5" and weighs 48.5 pounds. That's 94th % and 93rd % respectively. And he just started wearing size 6 clothes. For the first time at Target, we had to cross the aisle. Honestly, we probably could have crossed 6 months ago, but my son is only 4 and I had a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

The other day for lunch he had 3 hot dogs, a yogurt, fruit, and 2 glasses of milk. Yesterday, it was 2 sandwiches, yogurt, fruit and pretzels. He finishes what used to be a full meal, and then promptly asks for more.

I'm not sure I can keep up with him at this rate. I might just have to start showing him how to cook, because Dave and I can't keep the food coming fast enough for him.

Oh wait. I guess someone needs to show me how to cook first...

TV Time

Dave was in a show over the weekend (he played one of the brothers in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and while he was gone for rehearsals over the last 4 weeks, I fell into a familiar trap...

Jake and Emma have been watching WAY too much TV. And I completely recognize that it's totally my fault.

I just got finished reading The Read Aloud Handbook and the last chapter talks about the role TV plays in kids development and school performance. It talks about a couple electronic devices you can buy to monitor and administer TV time. But I'd like to think that there's another solution.

How do all of you handle TV (or Screen) Time in your house? What suggestions and advice can you offer. I'm up for anything (well...almost anything) at this point!

And So it Begins....

Ahhh, I'm so happy that Sunday School and Preschool are back in session. Where else would Jake learn the wonderful gems that he won't get from home? Here are just two of the things that has learned in the past couple of months:

Jaocb: (walks up to Dave with his arm outstretched) Pull my hand.
Dave: What?
Jacob: Pull my hand, a sound will come out of my body.
Dave: Where'd you learn that?
Jacob: The boy in the striped shirt at Sunday School.

Jacob: Don't do that!
Dave: Please don't talk to me that way.
Jacob: Don't do that or I'm going to smack you!
Dave: Where'd you learn that?
Jacob: From my friend at Preschool.

Where would we be without these little life lessons he learns along the way??

How a swimsuit saved my sanity

We've been having this....um...problem with Emma.

You see, she rather likes tearing off her pull-up while she is in her crib. And she does not at all seem to mind that she ends up falling to sleep in very, VERY wet sheets....or worse. We thought after a few times of sleeping in her own pee that she would figure out that it's not a very pleasant thing to do and stop tearing off her pull-up.

She didn't.

We moved on to always putting her in a onesie when we put her to bed. That worked for a while, until she decided that no silly little onesie was going to defeat her. So with her onesie still on, she pulled off her pull-up and pulled it through her pant leg. Thinking it was a fluke, I continued putting her in a onesie at naptime and bedtime. And it was a fluke, because the next time she figured out how to unbutton her onesie. I guess she thought pulling it out through the leg hole was just too much work so she better find an alternative. At least she's a good problem solver...

After the onesie, I decided I would try putting her in a pull-up, covered by a pair of vinyl training pants, and then the onesie on top of that. I thought the snugness from an extra layer would make it harder to take off the onesie. I was wrong.

I finally called my mom, who usually is my go-to gal when I am having an unusually hard time with the kids. She's quite resourceful...and she sews. I figured she could come up with something that would make it near impossible for Emma to take off that pull-up. She suggested bib overalls put on backwards so that she couldn't reach the buckles, but that sounded kind of uncomfortable to sleep in.

And that's when I came up with what I consider to be one of my best ideas of all time...a swimsuit! And you know what? It works perfectly. I put the pull-up on, then the swimsuit, and then a shirt and pants or PJs. She hasn't figured out...yet...how to pull off her t-shirt so I know she can't get the swimsuit off, and for some reason since it doesn't have buttons, she hasn't tried to pull the pull-up off through the leghole...yet.

As I was explaining the arrangement to the babysitter a few weeks ago, she said "Hey, whatever works." And isn't that what parenting is all about?

I thought so!

Unbelievable

I'm an old pro at taking Jacob to preschool. I've had 2 years of going through the drop off line and having the teachers take him out of the car. Easy, breezy.

But that first day, 2 years, when they took him out of the car...whoa, boy. I immediately pulled off into the parking lot and bawled my eyes out. I called Dave and he talked me down. I just wasn't prepared for that.

Just like I wasn't prepared for it this morning when they took Emma out of the car for her first full day of preschool. I thought I had this thing down! I was excited to have a few hours to myself! I was looking forward to cleaning! NO, REALLY! And still, I pulled off into the parking lot and bawled my eyes out (again). I called Dave and he talked me down (again).

Could it really be that my little girl is going to school? Could it really be that her book bag is actually a little bigger than she is? Could it really be her walking into that building, without so much as a glance back at the car (just like Jake did 2 years ago)?

Truly, truly unbelievable.

There's hope!

First off, I want to thank everyone for leaving such great comments for me over the weekend. It was really encouraging to see what everyone said and it helped me out a lot! THANK YOU!!

We had a pretty good weekend. We spent the whole day together on Saturday doing family stuff which hasn't happened in a while. We went to the park, had lunch, played board games...it was very relaxing. Emma's attitude is still grinding on me a bit, but I'm trying to bite MY tongue before I bite HER head off.

My cousin threw a surprise 70th birthday party for my uncle yesterday. He and my aunt drove all the way in from Oklahoma to see my cousin's family. He wasn't very happy when he found out they were going to go to a party for my cousin's co-worker. Of course he was very surprised when the party was for him. It went really well and Jake and Emma had a blast playing with all of their cousins. The only tears were from Emma when it was time to go home, but they were both just exhausted. It was a great day. I started getting a little agitated by the end of the evening, but I was tired too so my tolerance was down.

Today was the first day of a Jake's nature camp. He'll be gone this whole week from 8:30-12 noon. I honestly think it'll do us both some good to have a little break from each other. Emma and I were able to make it to water playground with some other moms and kids from church. Emma had as good of a time as Emma can. There was a lot of whining and there were a couple stare downs between her and I, but over all it went well. Jake seemed to love camp and was very excited to tell me that he had seen some "Queen Anne's Lake". We've had a great day so far, the time we've been able to spend together.

I think the key is to not let things build up so much before I need to let the steam out. I'm feeling much better than I was even a few days ago. I think all I needed was a little perspective. It was good to get it out and it gave me an opportunity to step back and realize the things I was stressing about won't really matter in the long run.

Now if I can just remember that when this all happens again with the next "phase".

Slipping away

I'm not feeling a whole lotta joy in my life right now.

It sounds harsh, but it's true. I feel myself wanting to retreat into a little hole of nothingness and not come out until....I don't know when. I don't know what the conditions would need to be to get myself out of this current downward spiral. I feel myself trying to recover from a slippery slope and it ain't going so well.

I've been having a lot of problems with Jacob lately. We just haven't been getting along so well. I am constantly yelling at him and he's being unbelievably whiny and demanding. And it's a vicious cycle, I tell ya. The more demanding he gets, the more upset I get. The more upset I get, the more whiny and uncooperative he gets. I just don't know what to do. He demands so much attention and to be honest, I just don't want to be around him anymore.

Emma is a monkey see, monkey do. So she has been picking up on Jake's bad habits. And she has been taking off her diaper during naptime and totally soaking everything...and then sleeping in it. I'm pretty much done with her, too.

And because of all of that plus other stuff that is going on, I feel myself wanting to retreat from everything. I have almost no interest in anything anymore. I've been on edge and short with the kids and Dave. I seem to be living in a constant state of being annoyed and upset. Most things feel like a burden; blogging, stuff I do for my church, cooking, cleaning, scrapbooking, eating right, you name it. Last night, I had the feeling that I just want to curl up in my bed and hopefully when I wake up I will somehow have miraculously developed new diet/parenting/housekeeping/time management skills.

I am 1 of 6 kids in our family, and most of us have been on medication or in therapy for depression. To this point, I have not been one of them. I have a heightened sense of the warning signs, almost to a fault. I often wonder if I am on the brink of depression, but then a second later wondering if I am just using that as an excuse. I think the difference is that I recognize the behavior I'm exhibiting and want to change it NOW before it gets to the point of therapy or medication, and I think that is definitely possible.

I just don't know where to start. Dave wants to help, and I would gladly accept it if I knew what to tell him. I don't know what I need to do to get myself going in the right direction. Time off (girls night out, dave staying home with the kids) hasn't really been helping lately because it just makes me feel guilty and like I'm a failure, and the behavior still continues after I get home. Things have just been so screwy lately at our house as far as schedules and routines that I'm just feeling totally off kilter. I definitely need an attitude adjustment, but how do I get one of those??

Here are my ideas of things I can change in the house and about our schedule. They may seem silly, but I hope they will help:

• More music - We usually have music playing in the house, but it's general the kids music. I need to play more of my music during the day and definitely listen to it when they are down for naps. Music generally makes me happy and I can actually feel the tension leaving my body while it's on. It may be a struggle though because Jake has a control thing going on now: if it's not his music, then he doesn't want any music.
• Back to a routine - I don't know if it's because of summer or because of Dave's travel schedule, but it seems like we have been flying by the seat of our pants lately. I need to get back to some sort of daily routine. The added bonus of this is that school is starting soon so it'll get Jake and Emma ready for that.
• The gym - Part of our routine was going to the gym. I can't tell you the last time I went. And I don't know why I don't go because the kids love it there. They have a blast because they are playing with kids instead of being stuck at home with me. I think I've stopped going because most days it's a struggle to get to breakfast without someone yelling so the stress of getting out the door to the gym is just something I don't want to deal with.
• Turn off the TV and computer - This is for both me and the kids. It has definitly become a crutch for me, no doubt about it. They are like a drug.
• Get Jake to play by himself - This will be the real challenge. If he's not bossing me around playing with me or watching TV, he really doesn't know what to do with himself. He has never played well by himself and his demands on me are starting to wear me down.

Any other thoughts from you home viewers? Any suggestions are welcome! Or if you just want to tell me I'm not alone in this crazy thing called parenting, I wanna hear about that, too! I don't ask for it often, but I'm asking for it now. I need your help!!

Until next week...

We are leaving tomorrow to go to Dave's parents' house for the weekend. 7 hours in the car with the kids. I'm talking pure bliss, people! And if history is any indication, both kids will fall asleep approximately 20 minutes before we reach our final destination. Fun stuff.

Jake is super excited though, he keeps talking about all the stuff we are going to bring when we go see Grandma and Grandpa. Leapster, books, his teddy bear...he can't wait.

Emma, on the other hand just likes to scream. At just about everything. And pouting, she's good with that, too. I'm actually more concerned about her on the trip than I am with Jacob. Emma is just not easily entertained unless she is literally bouncing off the walls (trust me, she ran into another one last night and just busted out laughing). She's a drama queen, that one.

Honestly, I don't know where she gets it from!

Wordless Wednesday

I know it's cruel, but even when she's sick, she's cute!

For more pics, visit WW or 5 Minutes for Mom

Fluid Levels

My poor Emma is sick. She's got a nasty stuffed up nose, which means increased drooling since her mouth is hanging open because she can't breathe. And it all ends up in her hair when she's lying down. And I think she might be teething, too, which only adds to the saliva factory. Oh, and did I mention she's potty training?

I'm up to my eyeballs in Emma's bodily fluids, people, and I forgot my boots and gloves.

We've been potty training for a little while now, if you want to call it that. She kind of took the bull by the horns on this one and one day announced she had to use the potty. I, of course, thought she was kidding so I was thoroughly shocked when she actually went. From that point on, we've had a VERY significant decrease in poopy diapers. But still no pee-pee success. That was about 2 months ago. We have used the last of the Pampers Cruisers and I have bought a few packages of the Pampers Easy Ups and Huggies Pull Ups...mostly because I'm a wimp. But I took the bull by the horns last night and put her to bed (at nighttime, not naptime, mind you) wearing nothing but Gerber All in One Waterproof Trainers.

Yes, I am a brave, brave girl. I thought "Hey, if Lara can do it, I can do it, too!"

I think Lara has more patience than I do. I had to strip the bed at 11:30pm and again at 8am. I either need to get more patience or get more sheets...or both.

And then this morning, armed with a little more confidence, I put Emma in underwear. By the time we left the house at 10:15, she was on her 3rd pair. At least it's only been pee-pee accidents. I took her to sit every time she had one and had her help me clean up the mess, but still no results. I got a little nervous leaving the house and having her only in undies, so I put a pull-up over them. It least the accident would be contained if she had one.

Which she did. But never told me about. And somehow happened after the 132 times I took her to the potty while we were at the park.

And this, too, shall pass...

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much better I feel this week after going to bed at 11:30 every night. O.K., almost every night. There was one where I stayed up until 12:30, and I most certainly felt it the next morning...as did anyone who had the nerve to argue with anything I said that day.

Being that it's summer time, I'm falling into the trap of letting Jake and Emma watch way too much TV. We should be out doing things. Instead, when Dave asks Jake where he went that day, Jake has every reason to answer "the couch".

So this week, I will limit the kids TV time to 1 hour. I already have a system set up to achieve this, I just have to follow through with it. Famous last words...

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - need to get back to
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - struggling with

Nooooooooo!!!!

For several weeks now, there have been these large vinyl signs up in the neighborhood yards congratulating Seniors on their graduation from high school. Within walking distance from our house alone, there are 5 or 6 families with graduating students. I always love to see what the messages say and to see where the different people are headed to for college.

And then I realized something the other day.

Have I really been surrounded by this many possible babysitters and not realized it????

Ugh.

Vacation Link-o-Rama

Tomorrow is the big day! We leave tomorrow for what will be our first week long vacation as a family of 4. It also marks Emma's first hotel stay and only Jake's 2nd hotel stay.

Um, yeah. I'm a bit nervous.

BUT, we are going with an open mind and as Dave LOVES to say: "We'll play it by ear". I hate that phrase. I am very much a planner, but I'm realy proud of myself this time around. I have a list of possible activites but didn't assign them a day or time like I would've really liked to do. I have a list of restaurants that offer Kids Eat Free days. Whether we'll actually make it there remains to be seen. And being the confident person I am, we chose a city that is only a 2 hour drive from us so if there is a major meltdown (adults OR kids), we can just cut our losses and head on home. How's that for looking on the bright side?

Anyway, I'm not sure I will be reading or posting much (although Dave will have his laptop and there is free wireless in the room), so I thought I would leave a list of links that ya'll can peruse in my absence.

And please, try not to cry too hard while I'm gone!

1. Emma is just starting to potty train (God help me) and while it's great she's asking me to go, if she asks me to go one more time, I'm going to FLIP OUT. Head on over to Shannon and Lara for a funnier, less psychotic view on the matter.
2. I have a tendency to stress on vacation, which totally defeats the purpose of a vacation. Luckily, Laura has a reminder for the way life should be.
3. I know she's been on The Today Show, but I just recently found Kathryn, and I couldn't agree more with her take on the Harriet Carter catalog.
4. My friend Christine's son, Colin, is losing teeth left and right, and this picture just cracks me up!
5. Do you like to write? Do you like contests? Do you like moose that poop candy? Then Scribbit's June Write Away Contest is the thing for you!
6. Don't forget to check Tales from the Scales on Thursday for my weekly post!

Have a wonderful week everyone! I'll catch you on the flipside!

I'm too young to feel this old

My nephew turned 17 this year.

And he went to his Junior Prom. With a girl. I have the pictures to prove it.

And then Dave and I saw him out at the movies. With 3 girls. He didn't see us. More precisely, he didn't see us before Dave told me to stop waving. Apparently, no kid wants to be waved over by their aunt at the movie theatre when they're with 3 girls.

Seeing him made me feel old. I've never felt old until that moment. I was only 13 when he was born. I remember patting his bottom trying to get him to sleep. And staying with him in the car while my sister ran inside the store. I used to do something that made him laugh out loud, I don't remember what it was now. When he was 3 or 4, we used to sing "Hold My Hand" by Hootie & the Blowfish. At the top of our lungs. Whenever I saw him, I would give him a thumbs up and say "Cool, dude." When I had jaw surgery and he visited me at the hospital, he wouldn't come near me until I gave him a thumbs up. That's how he knew me.

Then he grew up. When did that happen? When did he go from someone who needed burped to someone who needed to be fitted for a tux? I've never considered myself an overly sentimental person, but I nearly cried when I saw that prom picture. It took me a minute to register what I was looking at. My nephew, in a tux, with a girl. Holy Moses!

How do I stop the same thing from happening to my kids? I really don't think I can take it.

Here we go again

Jacob fell at school today. It was bad enough that they had to call me to come in. It seems he tripped and fell onto the step of the playground equipment and his mouth took the brunt of the fall. His front tooth went into his bottom lip leaving a puncture wound and he has a cut on the outside of his mouth from the equipment. There was so much blood at school that they thought the tooth had come clean, through, but it didn't. His tooth was knocked loose so we headed to the dentist (a place that Jacob is sadly all too familiar with)...

Bottom line...

This:

could become this:

We've got a follow up appointment in 3 weeks to see if it's healed enough to avoid extraction. I don't think it's going to make it. Before Jake had the first one pulled, the dentist told us that the tooth that got hurt today had suffered "a previous trauma" and may have to come out, too. It was spared that time, but I'm not sure it's going to make it through again.

On the bright side, Jake is developing quite a collection of things he got to pick from the dentist's toy chest. Good thing for me that I won this today! Thanks, Laura!

An easy scapegoat

Emma has been a little "off" for the past couple of days and we can't really put our finger on what the problem is. She just seems not quite right. She's a little more whiny and clingy than normal and nothing really seems to make her happy. For the first hour or two she was up this morning, she pretty much just sat in the room and cried...that sad, pitiful moan of someone who can't really communicate what's wrong with them.

My theory: she's teething. But that's my theory for everything when nothing else seems really wrong. It's served me well over the last few years, but I know I won't be able to use that excuse forever. As much as I would like to, when the kids are grumpy teenagers, I won't be able to say "Oh, the must be teething."

By then, I will have switched to: It must be hormones. This one is really good because it covers a much broader spectrum of problems and can also be used for a much longer period of time (heck for Emma, I can use it for the rest or her life, really).

Because the thing is, I need a reason for things. More accurately, I need to be able to BLAME something. It's much easier to put a name to something than to say "I don't know what's wrong". With these abstract ailments, it's easier to say "there's nothing I can do" as opposed to "I don't know what to do".

And I, for one, want to keep up the illusion as long as I can that I always know what's going on.

My kingdom for a doorknob

I installed a doorknob today. All by myself. Go me! Here are some tips and things I learned along the way:

1. Gather all your tools before you start (in this case, a screwdriver set, a hammer, a new doorknob, and a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice)


2. Don't wear your favorite Phil Collins shirt, just in case the job gets messy.


3. If you are installing the doorknob in a bathroom, fill the sink with water to give your 2 year old daughter something to do.


4. Small screwdriver bits are hard to see once they've been dumped in the toilet.


5. When the instructions say "Use a wood block between the latch and the hammer, lightly hammer latch into place", go find a piece of wood. Evidently Pride and Prejudice didn't do the job I thought it would.


6. Once the latch is in place, DO NOT SHUT THE DOOR until the doorknob is on.


7. If you do shut the door (thereby locking yourself and your soaked 2 year old daughter into the bathroom), don't panic. You'll figure something out.


8. Until you figure something out, don't forget that you brought a book with you! Sneak in a few pages of reading. You're not going anywhere!


9. Pins in door hinges are a bugger to get out sometimes.


10. Despite your will and desire for the door to come off after you nearly broke your arm trying to get the pins out, there is, in fact, still no hinge mechanism on the door so your "solution" turns out to be a dud.


11. Thankfully, pins are much easier to put back in. Just try not to dent the door. Or your thumb.


12. When in doubt, break the whole latch mechanism to free yourself and your unbelievably content and "helpful" daughter (why in the heck can't she be this calm and focused when she has the whole house to play in???)


13. Get another doorknob and start over, reminding yourself that mistakes are a good thing. How else would you know what NOT to do?


14. A sink full of water and a frantic mommy can keep a young girl entertained for an hour or more.


15. Step back and admire your handywork, knowing that your daughter can no longer get to the toilet or the sink that kept her entertained so.

Beautiful Banshee

O.K. Maybe banshee is a little bit harsh (i'm sure her screams aren't warning us of an impending death), but my girl has got a set of lungs on her.

Call it a scream, call it a shriek, call it what you want. It's loud. It's high pitched (she once made a wine glass ring in another room). It's annoying. And at times, it's actually physically painful to hear her. And she does it ALL THE TIME. It's usually when she's mad or wants something and we had the audacity to make her wait. But it's starting to trickle over into playtime. She and Jake are starting to make it a game, and I really think they get some sort of satisfaction out of seeing blood coming out of poor Dave's ears.

And how do you deal with that? We can't scream back. We have learned from experience that you can't always do things with earplugs in your ears (especially drive 7 hours). We can't yell. We've tried ignoring it. To no avail. And I think duct tape might be taking it just a little too far.

So if you see Dave or me in the streets, remember we're losing our hearing so you may need to speak a little louder. But, please, PLEASE...just don't scream.

Toothless wonder

On a Friday in June of 2006, Jacob was running with a toy and fell on top of it. He hit his mouth on the rim and it pushed his tooth back into his mouth at a 45degree angle, but it never came loose. I don't think I had ever seen so much blood in my life. Well, we frantically tried to get a hold of our dentist and then Jake's pediatrician. Our dentist never called us back, but the pediatrician referred us to a pediatric dentist that same night and off we went to get xrays.

When we got to the dentist's office, I think he spent more time talking Dave and I down off a ledge than anything else. We were totally freaked out that our little boy would have to have a tooth pulled at only 3 years old. But sure enough, he wanted us back in first thing Monday morning to have the little bugger pulled.

Jake (and Dave & I) got a crash course in the tooth fairy that weekend. Again, he was taking everything in stride while Dave and I would bust out crying every time we looked at him. It just looked so PAINFUL! But our little guy went about his day like nothing ever happened. He even went back to the offending toy on Saturday evening wanting to play with it. O.K. At least there was no trauma from that aspect.

Dave had to leave for a business trip on Sunday so I called my unbelievably wonderful Mom & Dad to come stay with us for a day or two. Dad stayed home with Emma while Mom and I took Jacob to the dentist. I almost had to leave I was so heartbroken. I myself have had a lot of work and surgeries done on my mouth so seeing him sitting in that chair just brought back a lot of icky memories, but anyway, this story is about Jake. He could not have done any better at the dentist if he tried. He was unbelievably calm through the whole thing, even when the put the "funny gas" mask on his face, it never phased him.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I was reminding Jake that he had a dentist appointment on Monday and he got all excited as he usually does when I mention the dentist. But then he got quiet and said "Mommy, is he going to take another tooth?" I assured him that this was just for a cleaning. I told him the dentist had a special tool that would clean his teeth and tickle them at the same time. He seemed fine with this answer, but had just one more question. "Mommy, do they clean them in blood?"

I was now beginning to think that he was traumatized forever by his first meeting with this guy, but then I noticed the tone of his voice. He wasn't at all scared, he really just was curious. And who can blame him? His question makes sense now that I think that the only exposure he's ever had to the dentist involved blood and coming home with one less tooth. He was about to have a new procedure done and just wanted to go in with as much information as he could.

Pretty cool for a four year old, if I do say so myself...