toothiness

I feel like we've been talking about teeth a lot lately.  Harriet just popped out her 3rd tooth and we've been blaming everything we can on her teething.  Her recent fever, her current diarrhea, the fact that she now insists on only nursing on one side rendering me a lopsided freak, and while we're at it, let's blame the oil spill, global warming, and skinny jeans on her teething too.  Poor thing.  I had been rubbing teething gel on her top gums for weeks, and massaging them and checking them and then, when I was feeding her this weekend, I noticed that new little guy just snuck in on the bottom!  Sorry, Harriet.

In addition to all that teeth talk, Eloise and I both had dentist appointments this week.  I was prepping her for days and we were talking about what the dentist might do and what kind of prize she might get when her appointment was over.  I was so nervous she was going to freak out and not cooperate. (She fell when she was 18 months old, knocking out 3 of her teeth and she's been, justifiably,  a little skittish ever since) She did amazingly well.  This dentist, Dr. McWhinnie, had such a great way about him.  She was totally at ease around him and responded in a way that I have not seen before.  They were laughing and joking and best of all-- No cavities!

Then it was my turn.  I had not been to see a dentist in probably 5 years.  I am the one that was totally freaking out.  I am super squeamish about my teeth.  I can't eat a popsicle for fear that the stick might touch my teeth.  I can't be in the same room as any kind of porcelain dish for fear that something might scratch against it.  The sound of someone scraping a fork on their teeth almost makes me pass out.  So as you can guess, I am not very relaxed at the dentist.  I basically spend the whole time alternating between whole body shivers and suppressing the need to vomit.  Since I finally got myself in the chair and
ass clenched my way though the appointment, I was very happy to hear some great news.   Even though I haven't been in such a long time and even though I lied about flossing 5 times a week, I don't have any cavities or major issues at all, whatsoever.

Am I the only person that doesn't floss?  Tell me you are all flossing! I hate it but I must make a change. I considered myself very lucky this time around and I pledged that I would make every effort to floss each night from now on.  So far, I have kept my pledge.  It has been one night.

new toothy grin

my favorite toothless grin

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