Our Day at the Dentist.

Yesterday. The "Kid Dentist" called to remind me of an appointment I had today at 8:00am.

Today. Any remnant of the Dentist Appointment is completely gone. No memory of it what-so-ever.

We get down stairs, we're late just getting off to school. It's 8:20 and school starts in 10 minutes. I grab my phone and see that I missed a call this morning. I listen to the message and hear... "This is Kidz Dental Works. You had an appointment for Hailey, Brooklyn, Dylan and Anneliese at 8:00am. We're just wondering if you're on your way. Please call us." Crap! How did I forget from yesterday until today? It's even on my schedule on my phone. I call them. Surely there's no way we're going to be doing this today. I'm already 30 minutes late and I haven't even left yet.

I call them up. "How fast can you get here?" It would take me 25-30 minutes to get there. I would be an HOUR late for my appointment. "Come right down. We'll just squeeze everyone in." I'm not sure if this is good or bad but I mumble for everyone to get in the car and with Zach's help we manage to get all 4 kids in the van in a short... 10 minutes. (Hey! There's a lot of shoes, coats, backpacks, blankies and of course we can't go without everyone brushing their teeth!) I say goodbye to Zach thinking again about how he's got the easier job of just... working. We take the back-roads and get there in record time.

I enter. "Hi, I'm the special Mom that can't remember our appointments even though you called to remind me yesterday." "Hi Mrs. Olsen. Thanks for coming so quickly." My middle 2 kids go first, their teeth are cleaned and they're off playing. I'm waiting for my 9 yr old and my 2 yr old to get done. This is Anneliese's first time in the chair and she's a little apprehensive about them sticking all of those things in her mouth but she did very well and apart from trying to bite the lady a couple of times I think all and all things went pretty well. I send her off to play in the playroom while I wait for my oldest. I turn to see Hailey sobbing and shaking in the chair muttering about how it hurts. I walk over and ask the "teeth cleaning lady" what's up.

My mind is spinning... I'm pretty "Hitler-ish" when it comes to brushing and flossing teeth and we usually walk out without any cavities or problems. I'm getting nervous because the lady is having a hard time poking around, Hailey is crying and all I can think about is all those new adult teeth she has and wondering if we already have a cavity in one of them. The "teeth cleaning lady" (I'm sure there's a technical name for it... probably "youth teeth cleaning specialist" or "managing director over pediatric oral care" or something.) informs me that there are some spots that she can tell have not been brushed in quite some time. The gums are bleeding, there's a lot of food caught and I'm shocked. I thought she was the one I didn't really have to worry about.

Oh... there's more though. She said that there are some baby teeth that are on TOP of her adult teeth that have been hanging on by a thread, could fall out any moment and food is getting caught under the baby tooth and on top of the new tooth. K- So.. I'm confused. She says they're so loose she's surprised that they haven't fallen out on their own.

"Let's just pull them out!" I say. Then I figure out what the whole dilemma is. Hailey starts crying and shaking.. "Please don't pull them out! Please! Just. Don't. Pull. Them. Out." Whoa! I thought we were SO beyond this. She's NINE! We've done this SO many times before!

I'm trying to think fast. I bribe her. I tell her I'll make homemade caramels (her favorite dessert) if she'll let the lady pull them out. "NO!. Don't pull them out!" The lady says she'll put this stuff on it so she won't even feel it. She won't even notice. "No! PLEASE!?! Don't! Just leave me alone!" Just to let everyone know... this is NOT normal behavior for her, in fact I don't think that I've seen her this way since she was 2! Very odd!

The lady finally gave up and lets us know that the Dentist will be out shortly. I inform my daughter that she can either do it here and I'll make caramels for her for dessert tonight or I will take her straight home, yank them out myself and she will NOT get caramel tonight. Well... that didn't work. She just starts crying more and pleading with me. Then she had to go to the bathroom. I let her go and I wait for her outside the bathroom. While I was waiting, I devised a plan.

I hear her flush and wash her hands. I walk into the bathroom and she takes one look at my face and let's out a scream. It was as if she was the victim in some horror movie that had just been cornered by the mass murderer. Not the reaction I was hoping for from my daughter but it was evident that she knew of my plan. I quickly cover her mouth with my hand so that people don't think that the poor girl is being beaten to death with a toothbrush or something and I calmly explain. "I am going to put my finger in your mouth and feel each tooth. I am going to wiggle each tooth. That is all. I will let you know if I am going to do anything else. I promise." She pleads once again to not pull out her teeth. I tell her that is not what I'm going to do. (yet) I wiggle a couple, I tell her they are very loose. Oh my heck! They're so loose I'm surprised the girl has been able to eat without them coming right off and swallowing them! I tell her there is one on the top and I'm going to see if I can grab it. I won't pull, I'm just going to see if I can grab it. She agrees and makes me pinky-swear to tell her if my plan changes. Pinkies are interlocked in agreement. This is pretty serious.

I grab the first tooth and it seriously just came right off into my fingers! It was an accident! I didn't pull or anything! I think she could tell from my shock that I didn't do it on purpose and allows me to try to grab another. I pinch another one between my fingers and tell her I'm going to pull it out... right (pull)... now! It comes off with no effort. I set it down. I continue on... I pull another one... and another one and ANOTHER ONE! YES, that's right people!! FIVE TEETH I pulled out of her mouth! ALL of them were barely holding in there. By some miracle they didn't come off while she was eating or they didn't just fall out somewhere.

I'm kind of in awe. I don't know what to say. She didn't cry at all while I was pulling them out. She was fine. We rinse out her mouth. I ask for some gauze because it is bleeding a little bit. We get a little box to put her teeth into. She walks out of the bathroom calm and collected. As we go to sit back into the dentist chair she smiled, started to cry and said "Thank you so much for pulling my teeth out Mom! I was too afraid to eat and I felt like I couldn't brush my teeth right and they've REALLY been bothering me for a long time! It feels so good to have them out!" I'm more shocked than before! "Hailey! Why didn't you tell me!" "I was too afraid that it would hurt!"

She got a couple extra toys out of the drawer at the dentist for being so brave which made my 2nd daughter furiously wiggle all of her teeth to see if there were any she could pull out for a toy. I made her caramel when she got home from school as promised. We went out to dinner tonight and she commented that it was so much easier to eat. Wow! Who knew! I had no idea she'd been struggling with this! It's not like I ask to check my 9 year old's teeth every so often. She had the brushing and flossing down when she was 6 and I never looked back!

The moral of the story? Yeah... I don't know. What I do know is that sometimes to be a good Mom you just have to corner your kid in the bathroom, cover their mouth to stop the screaming and yank their teeth out with your bare hands. It takes guts and it might be embarrassing if you're doing it at the Dentist's office but everyone feels a lot better in the end.

Gold, Platinum or Sapphires

A year & a half ago for our ten year wedding anniversary my husband gave me a note that read.. "For a wedding band." You see... I had the engagement ring but never the separate wedding band that traditionally goes with the engagement ring. We had looked at them once, but back then we were poor folk. It was quite a bit of money and I'm not huge on jewelry so... less jewelry was fine with me. I really didn't see the point in purchasing the 2nd part.

Over the years I've had numerous people (even with my 4 children in tow) grab my hand and exclaim "You're engaged! When's the big day!?". I never realized the real significance (especially to old ladies that are afraid I've been living in sin all these years) that the extra band would have. So it was something that I eventually wanted.

So on our anniversary just after finishing a lovely dinner at "Five All's" Zach gave me a card that had the little note that suggested we finally go and get the wedding band. Well... time went by, we've been busy with kids & a baby. I've lost weight & my ring needed sizing anyway so I figured it was time to get that band.

I walk into the jewelry store & there are hundreds of bands to choose from. I chose a few & they just didn't look right with my ring. After a while there was a suggestion made by one of the sales people that maybe this would be a great time to "get a new look" which meant a whole new wedding set. I consider that for a moment & think... well... my ring IS a little out of date. It's gold & they don't even really sell yellow gold anymore. Everything is white gold or platinum. Silver is "in" right now. It's pointed out that it is kind of plain, just a gold band with a solitaire diamond. I would be keeping the diamond & move it to my new set. I call Zach & he says that it sounds good & to find something that I like.

There's an overwhelming amount of wedding sets to choose from. I eye seven or eight glass cases that are bulging full of sparkle & bling. I choose around 7 different ones, narrow it down to 3, then 2. I like them both equally. The first one is white gold & has deep blue saphires with white diamonds. They set my diamond in the middle & it looks like some really cool artistic ocean wave with my diamond at the peak. The 2 peices of the ring fit & swirl together perfectly. It's beautiful & totally me. They set my diamond in the other one. This one is platinum, a clean classic look with rectangle diamonds on the side of my round diamond & baguettes down the sides. Gorgeous! Very traditional, classy & elegant. I love it! I realize that it's like looking at the 2 opposite parts of me. The traditional part vs the free artistic part. How do I choose. I send pictures of them to Zach who immediately decided to go with the ring that has blue sapphires. I'm happy & sign the papers to have my diamond taken out of my old ring & put into this new ring. I go home quite a happy camper.

I worry about my decision all night. The ring doesn't really LOOK like a wedding ring even though it is. Although I love it I think it actually looks more like a fashion statement than a wedding ring. I talk to Zach, he gets my point & we decided that we would go back first thing the next day to change our request.

I talked him into sluffing work so he could come with me & help me make the right decision. They get out my diamond & they find the set that I would like to change over to. Everyone agrees that it's beautiful... platinum, more diamonds, more expensive but beautiful. Then... I don't know. It just didn't feel right. What's the point of wearing a new wedding ring? I didn't get married with that ring.

At the last moment I ask if we can place the diamond back into my old ring for a moment. They set the loose diamond in the spot & it just seems to belong there. I ask once again to look at a few wedding bands that I like & nothing really looks right. I finally ask if they have anything that is raised a little higher on the top. He looks around for a second & pulls out a band. I didn't like it, I would have never chosen it. He puts it with my ring & it was like... magic. I think we both knew that it looked perfect.


Yes, it was my old ring. The ring that according to the jewelers was "out of style, yellow gold, one diamond & plain". What I see though is the ring that Zach held out when he was kneeling in front of the Temple trying to get the right words to pass his lips. It's the one that I happily showed off to all of my girlfriends. It's the ring that has had play-dough, paint, Elmer's glue & gum stuck to it and still came out looking beautiful. It's the ring that I have been ecstatic to wear for over 11 years now. It's the ring that is perfect for me because it's the ring that means something to me. All the others are just metal.

Now I have an addition to that ring. One that compliments mine perfectly. I have a reminder of where I've been and a promise of great things to come.