Watch out for sugar bugs

There's a variety of opinions out there on the appropriate time for your child to first visit the dentist. Some people say to take them as soon as you see teeth, others say anywhere from 1-4 years old. We added our boys to our dental insurance after they were a year old, just in case of emergency, but there is no general consensus on what the best course of action is.

Justin's preschool had a dentist come as a special guest and talk about teeth, going to visit the dentist, etc. What was really nice about this is that the dentist did a quick peek inside each child's mouth and sent home a report on what they found, if anything. Justin's paper said that there was a "suspicious" area on one of his teeth, and recommended a dental checkup. Since I was due for a visit myself, I just made an appointment for Justin to get things checked out.

He wasn't scared at all. The staff was careful not to keep us waiting long at all, and let him bring back one of the toys he was playing with back to the exam room. The hygienist talked to him all the way through, and gave him a step-by-step description of what they were going to do so that he knew what to expect. They gave him some sunglasses to wear while they were cleaning his teeth, to keep the spray out of his face. He did a great job!




The bad part was, he did have a cavity. Without the impetus from the cursory check he got at school, we wouldn't have visited the dentist yet and the cavity could have gotten worse. I made an appointment to take him in 2 weeks later to have the cavity filled. I asked if they would sedate him for the appointment, to which the reply was no. However, I was assured that the dentist was exceptional with children, and that it would go very quickly and not be a traumatic experience for Justin.

Well, they were wrong! Despite the dentist's best efforts to keep Justin calm, there's nothing about having your mouth numbed that is OK with a 3 year old child. That shot of Novocain put him over the edge and he had a lot of trouble sitting still.



Unfortunately, I couldn't even hold him in my lap for the procedure. The dentist did manage -- somehow -- to get the tooth filled. But he wasn't able to do it as efficiently as he would have liked, and warned that we will need to keep an eye on it because it might not stay in as long as it should. He threw up his hands in the middle of the procedure and said, "I can't do this." Not what a parent wants to hear. That was the whole reason I asked about sedation before making the appointment! Apparently, there is a pediatric periodontist across the street who could have done this for us, complete with some nice happy juice ahead of time. Next time, we'll be the wiser. For now, it is over and Justin was not too traumatized. He does brush his teeth religiously, because he doesn't want any more sugar bugs to try to live in his mouth!

Easter 2011, Smith Style

Holidays are always so much fun with little kids around. A little stressful, but fun nonetheless. The excitement in their little faces and their sheer joy is contagious. We attended an Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood this year, and it was Tyler's first time to participate. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little chilly. We set out with the wagon, wearing jackets, and everyone had a good time. The haul itself was a little disappointing -- the treats for kids 3 and under was nothing other than fruit snack pouches. From Sam's Club, nonetheless. There was no variety. If there weren't fruit snacks in the plastic eggs, there were two pennies. Give me a break, I'll give you my own two cents if it will go for better treats.

The boys got their faces painted and got to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. It was fun despite the lame egg filling.

Some of the highlights:











A couple weekends later was the actual Easter holiday. It dawned gray and rainy and wet this year, so plans for an outside hunt were scrapped. We hid the eggs inside the house, and Justin and Tyler hunted for them with their cousin Leila. The bunny that visited here was a little more creative with treats. :)









Of course, The Bunny left baskets for both boys to find on Easter morning. They had a great time finding them and investigating the loot. I failed to get any really good pictures of them in their so-called Easter finery, so these will have to do.










It was a great Easter this year.

Fall premiere season is here

I unintentionally took a spring and summer hiatus, so it seems appropriate that today's post is a recap episode of what we did over the past two seasons. Our life isn't that exciting, but we did manage to fill our time with a fair amount of activity. Here's a short list of how we whiled away the hours, with details and pictures to follow later.

* We celebrated Easter with two Easter egg hunts, and egg coloring at our house.
* Justin had his first dentist appointment, and subsequently, his first filling.
* Justin had yet another surgery -- his 4th -- to have tubes put in his ears.
* We had our first family outing to King's Island.
* We got a new sprinkler ball, and hauled out the pool, and found out that Tyler thinks water activities are like bathing in acid.
* Tyler had more allergy testing done, with interesting results.
* We went to Coney Island for Balloon Glow, and didn't see any balloons.
* Tyler got stitches for the very first time.
* We celebrated Justin's 4th birthday.
* We visited the park several times.
* And finally, we went back to Coney on Labor Day and had a great time to end summer.

I promise to come back later and make some more posts on some of the more fun parts. :)