dentist visit

the kids had dentist appointments this morning. when we got there, madelyn and i realized that we were both wearing navy and white stripes (although mine are almost totally covered by my scarf!).

and then we have a picture of why mason loves the dentist. he talks about this pack-man game for the entire 6 months between appointments. he probably gets to play a total of 10 minutes each appointment but it is obviously a highlight!

good news is that everyone has clean teeth. yay. love.

mom of four coming through

the kids go everywhere with me.  and i mean everywhere.  it is just the way things work when you don't have family nearby and you have four kids.  it's not like everyone is jumping at the bit to take on four extra small kids.  well, at least that is what i tell myself and it part of the reason i don't even bother to ask.  my bible study girls are encouraging me to stop doing that...

so today i had a dentist appointment and took all four kids.  (i did ask a friend if i could drop them off with lunches but she had to have some emergency blood work done and wouldn't be home.)  the kids were awesome.  they are normally very good when we are out and about so that is part of the reason i don't mind taking them everywhere.  but i do think the anxiety level of the staff increases as kid, after kid, after kid, after kid walk through the door with me!

it is all in the preparation.  i made each kid their own snack mix in their own ziplock bag (no fights over sharing this way) and had them each pack up their library totes with coloring books, reading books and toys to keep them busy.  they did end up coming in the little room where i was (they were sitting on chairs right behind the partition in a little waiting area) to watch the cleaning towards the end.

i was a very proud mommy leaving with my sweet crew in tow.  love.

new dentist

i mentioned that i took the boys to the dentist last week (when madelyn was sick) but i didn't take any pictures and forgot to mention the results in a post so here is one after madelyn's rescheduled appointment this morning. i took a picture of all the new patient names on the wall.  all of the staff were dressed up as "things" with red numbered shirts and blue fuzzy wigs and the dentist was the cat in the hat (he just wore the hat) since it was halloween.

the boys both did great during their appointments.  they went back by themselves but the dentist seemed pretty impressed that both boys, especially maddux, would let them complete a cleaning.  i felt like the 'bad mommy' because i couldn't remember if this was maddux' first appointment or not.  i was even trying to look it up on the blog in the parking lot but ran out of time and had to just go in.  in my defense, their last trip to the dentist was the day before we moved into the house and i had a lot going on.  he went to the office with me too, i just can't remember if he went back for a cleaning or just to watch.  anyway, he did great today.  they both had excellent reports on their brushing and there are no signs of cavities.  we talked a little about mason's thumb sucking and the dentist thinks that we are on the right track (he will pull it out willingly if we catch him with it during the day) and isn't really worried about it at this point.

we also talked about madelyn's thumb sucking.  she doesn't suck her thumb regularly, but i have caught her with a soggy thumb when she gets in trouble and has to go to her room or when she isn't feeling well.  we never see her suck it any more.  her thumb sucking isn't a huge concern either, but as a result of the thumb sucking, she has a tongue thrust that is of concern.  basically, when she swallows, she pushes her tongue on her teeth instead of on the roof of her mouth.  since you swallow a lot throughout the day, that will push her teeth out over time.  it is more of a cosmetic concern than a functional one, although he did mention that it could affect her ability to bite into things if it gets too bad. 

at this point, it is just something he is going to keep an eye on and will possibly address when she is 100% past her thumb phase.  he said that it would be a problem should she get braces because the braces' wires would hold her teeth in place but the tongue thrust would undo everything as soon as they came off.

i always thought that mason had more of a 'thumb sucker' bite, but madelyn's is pretty out there too.  i will not obsess, i will not obsess, i will not obsess...  love.

keeping the house clean

i was able to reschedule the kids' dentist appointment to be before we moved. (i was actually rescheduling their appointment while we are in florida next week and they offered the day we are moving into the new house but then came up with a cancelled appointment time for us.)  everyone was just raving over their behavior, especially mason because of his age.

for these good kids (and mommy who is trying to keep the house/apartment clean ahead of our trip) we went to the zoo.  the kids were excited to see that they were already setting up some of the halloween decorations.

they insisted.

there is this whole kid-sized frontier town that the kids love.  this was the first time i was able to get a picture (there are usually too many kids running all over the place).

the old train has been retired to the frontier village.  mason loves to ring the bell and call out "all aboard!".

the kids usually stop by the 'news desk' when we visit the jelly fish exhibit because they like seeing themselves on 't.v.'.  today for some reason madelyn was interested in giving a full weather report.

we always admire the zoo's new train. i guess that the lack of a crowd encouraged me to try taking all three kids for a ride.

mason and madelyn were delighted.

maddux and i had a tighter squeeze.

i am not sure what this thing is but the kids love it.  maybe it is an eagle nest?

i feel so blessed to have a fun place to take the kids for free (well except for the popcorn i seem to be buying almost every time...). now to finish the preparations for our bi-annual trip to florida to visit my family and some friends!  love.

dentist

maddux was not the only one with 'firsts' today.  madelyn and mason went to the dentist.  it was mason's first time to a dentist and madelyn's first time to a pediatric dentist. 

i can't even explain how nice it was to wait in a waiting room made for waiting!  it was raining, i wasn't sure exactly where the office was, or how early i needed to be there, so we got there about a half-hour early.  we ended up waiting 45 minutes and it flew by.  there was a highly interactive area for kids with disney junior on the t.v., video games, touch screens, books, toys, and puzzles.  it was also sectioned off in the back of the waiting room (away from the doors).  and the adult side was loaded with current (and interesting) magazines, a computer with internet access, and some cooking show on the t.v..

the hygienist came out and spoke with us about what would happen and asked some questions related to madelyn and mason's teeth before taking madelyn back to get her teeth cleaned.  madelyn has been looking forward to going to the dentist for months now.  and when i told her yesterday that they had an appointment today you would have thought that i told her we were going to disney world - she was that excited.  i told her that she would have to show mason how to be a good boy for the dentist and she got right to work.  they got out the play doctor kit and went through counting teeth and brushing them.  madelyn held his hand when we walked through the parking lot telling mason about how great it was to go to the dentist.  and, of course, that they would get a treat.

so madelyn went first and mason waved good-bye to "sis".  then the hygienist came back after a while to get mason.  she said that i could come back since he was so young, but he didn't need me.  i told him that it was his turn and he needed to go back with madelyn to get his teeth cleaned.  he took the hygienist's hand, waved good-bye to me, and walked right on back - he never even looked back.  once they were done with mason the hygienist came out to get me so that i could speak with the dentist. 

both kids looked 'clinically' great.  he thinks that madelyn's 'overbite' (not what he called it but what he equated it to) should correct itself now that she has stopped sucking her thumb.  he scolded me a little when i told him that madelyn brushes her teeth all on her own.  i guess they shouldn't do that until 7 or 8 because their dexterity isn't developed enough to maneuver the toothbrush for proper cleaning.  oh well.  and they just couldn't stop raving about how well mason did.  the dentist said that he sees a lot of kids and mason is a "very laid back guy".  most kids his age would not have done so well being back there without mom (or dad) at their first appointment.  i think that the dentist is just a really positive thing in our house and it helps that his big sister gets so excited.

mason also added "dentist" to his vocabulary.  after today's visit.

maddux slept through the whole thing.  love.

got to be quick

my boss is coming tomorrow to stay with us until thursday, so i have to be quick tonight so that i can get back to cleaning... now that maddie is drinking from a cup, she keeps trying to drink from the cup i use at bath time to rinse her hair! i guess that i need to change the rinsing vessel so that she doesn't start drinking the bath water.

it has occurred to me that i haven't been taking any pictures of her once she is in her jammies (unless it is one of my stalking pictures from when she is sleeping) so here is one of her in her owl pjs - note the owls on the bottoms of her feet...

we went to the dentist today and since matt and i coincidentally had back-to-back appointments (he rescheduled his a few times) so matt stayed for my appointment to watch maddie and then we all went out to grab a quick lunch together which was really nice! (the dentist said that he would see her when she is two.) since daddy wanted to play, maddie didn't get her normal morning nap and passed out as soon as she and i headed for home. she even transferred to her crib without waking up and slept for another hour and a half.

here are two pictures of her dressed for her outing today. doesn't she look like such a "big girl"? i had to change her into short sleeves because this shirt was just too stretchy and kept getting caught when she rolled over. she doesn't get mad though, she just pulls her arm out of the sleeve! ohmygoodness - i just realized that in the one on the left she is giving a "thumbs-up"!

she has also discovered reaching. she has realized that she can reach for something that she can't really reach - including us when she wants to be lifted up. in combination with this she has begun to grunt for help when she knocks something too far away - like a toy on her high chair tray. it is so exciting to watch her discover her abilities and limitations each day as they constantly change.

time to run. love.