Dentists

I can see it's been a week since I've had anything to say. We haven't been away. We've all been busy, but not with anything fun. A trip to the dentist with the kids was probably the big highlight. We suspected that poor Logan might need some extractions, and he does. Over the last four or five months, some of his adult teeth have been growing down from high in his gums and the old baby teeth beneath them haven't been getting any looser. So he's had double teeth, in several spots. The dentist explained how the adult teeth were growing so high, the baby teeth haven't been getting any nudges or wearing away of the roots. She extracted two on the day, and he has to go back twice to have four more taken out too. But that'll be the last of his baby teeth gone.

I mentioned something that's been happening with little Blake. At night, he grinds his teeth in his sleep, sometimes so loud that we can all hear them from our own bedrooms. And if he's fallen asleep on one of us and does it, we can feel the reverberations right through his head. In the past, he'd sometimes fall asleep while breast-feeding and then I'd know all about it! So I told the dentist, and she said that they can't make mouthguards for people so young, there's nothing for it but to see if he'll grow out of the grinding at this stage. My dh sometimes grinds his teeth in his sleep too, and the old dentist told him that it's a sign of stress. This business with Blake shows us that stress can't be the only reason for nocturnal teeth grinding. I cannot think of a person with less stress than Blake. The 3yo baby of a homeschooling family who gets to wake up at his leisure, plenty of play time and always family around to cater to his every need.

Speaking of dentists, I remember an appointment I had about three years ago. Blake was a new born, we were frantically clearing all of our belongings out of our old house before the new owners moved in, and my mother-in-law was helping, constantly asking me where things were supposed to go. I remember it was the only time in my life I was ever glad when my dental appointment came around so I had an excuse to get away for a little while. Since then, I've read a saying, "You know you're under too much stress when you look forward to a trip to the dentist as a chance to put your feet up and relax for awhile." I had to laugh because I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't actually happened to me.

The dental nurse was very nice that day. During our chit-chat, I told them all that Blake was a few weeks old, we were getting ready to leave our house, I was homeschooling my older two, finishing writing a book and about to embark on a caravan holiday. She commented, "I think you need a cape!" I'd hadn't been feeling anything like a super-hero. Just very frazzled and close to tears. But I did feel as if I had a fresh burst of energy for awhile when I returned home. Sometimes it's great to get a bit of encouraging feedback.

By the way: Thanks everyone who commented on my last post. Yes, the postage was far more expensive than the books themselves. When we thought they'd be coming from within Australia, we assumed that they must've been very thick. That wasn't the case, but you live and learn. We've ordered other books from o/s intentionally in the past, when we can't get them any other way, which is great to be able to do.