A day at the dentist

Five of us went to the dentist today. This is always a super-fun time. Oh, and this was the family's first visit to this particular dentist office.

We started at 8:30, with Clay's first-ever visit. He was thrilled to sit in that funky chair with all the interesting maneuvers, and the hygienist showed him every possible tool, and even let him handle all of them. His favorite was "Mr. Thirsty," the water sucking straw. He did fantastic with the cleaning and really had a good time.

Max was up next. He got to wear cool shades and got a wonderful report. He has twenty-one teeth, but we could see from the x-rays that it won't be long before some of them start to come out.

By the end of Max's appointment, Clay was restless and ready to go, so it worked out well that we had a break before the next round of appointments. The three of us came home for a brief period before returning to the office, this time with the two oldest kids in tow.

The two littles stayed in the van, watching a DVD, while I took the two older kids inside for their simultaneous appointments. The next hour found me running from exam room to van to other exam room. And, on one of my visits to the van, I found that Clay had released himself from his seat and was giddily rolling the windows up and down. Upon opening the door to lock the windows, I noticed the overpowering stench wafting up from the backseat. Sure enough, Clay had pooped in his pants (on an underwear day). And, AND, I had neglected to relocate the diaper bag back to the van after taking it out over the weekend. I was utterly unequipped to take care of the situation. My own dental appointment was coming up, so I called in reinforcements. Jeff came and saved the day, and took the two little boys home for safekeeping.

Meanwhile back in the office, Weston also donned the shades and got an excellent report. He had to have his spacer removed and replaced, which was a little painful, but he was a trooper and did great.

Ruth had a couple of problem areas and will have to go back in for sealants and a filling. (Ruth was more on her own than the others, so I didn't get a picture of her. I suspect she wouldn't have allowed that anyway, though.)

By the end of my appointment, I was a bit cranky from having been there all day, from having had my mouth messed with, and from having received a little bit of bad news about some crumbly old fillings, which will have to be replaced (at a significant cost). So, I was super-thrilled when I handed our Health Savings debit card to the business manager and she told me it wasn't working. This required me to call the bank, and to be placed on hold, and to talk to the always-helpful bank people--from the comfort of the dentist office. The first person I spoke to at the bank confirmed that the card wasn't working, as well it shouldn't, because there was a zero balance in the account. It's a brand new account that we just opened a couple of weeks ago, so I was a bit shocked. After explaining this to the unhelpful lady on the phone, I was transferred to someone slightly more helpful, who was able to determine that we do have money in the account, we just can't use it (for another few days). Awesome.

The good news is we all survived and (most of us) don't have to do it again for another six months. Another positive was that we are all very happy with our new dentists and their staff. This was a good change for us.

Thankfully, the big kids and I were able to end the day by seeing the Tarzan musical Marble Falls High School was putting on. What an amazing show! It provided plenty of opportunities to show off our very clean smiles.