The Dentist

It was time that we finally found a dentist. It's difficult when you move to a totally new place (let alone new country with whole new insurance issues) to find doctors/dentists/hairdressers/mechanics/etc...you get the point. James and I are very particular about our oral health and have always gone to the dentist on a regular basis. Because of this we realized it was really time for us to find a local dentist. We asked around and finally found a friend who recommended a dentist that actually accepts our insurance. Well, today was the day. James had an appointment during his lunch hour and the boys and I each had appointments in the afternoon. James called me to tell me that our dentist was really nice and did the cleaning herself. (I'm not used to that.) The three of us headed out with much optimism. Jameson had been to the dentist before and was a trooper; he did so well that time so I really wasn't worried. Then there was Stellan..... He had never been before but it's a struggle just to get him to brush his teeth. He hates toothpaste so we've resorted to using just water. The other night he clamped his mouth shut and then placed both hands firmly over his mouth. It took two of us (coupled with some bribery) just to get him to open his mouth. I was worried. How was he going to do with the dentist.

Once we got to the office I had a ton of paperwork to fill out. After completing all of the repetitive names/numbers/addresses it was Jameson's turn. He headed in a bit nervous looking. They were willig to take him in alone but I knew he needed me. Stellan continued to play in the waiting area and I helped Jameson settle in. He did great! He let the doctor do a check up and willingly let her do a cleaning and fluoride treatment. I went back and forth between Stellan and Jameson. Near the end of Jameson's treatment I decided to bring Stellan into the room so he could see what to expect. He took one look at Jameson and said, "Mommy, let's go home now". Such fear in his voice, poor little guy. We tried to show him that it didn't hurt and Jameson wasn't minding it but Stellan wouldn't buy it. Well, it was his turn.

We took Stellan to the room next door but he did not want to get into the chair. I offered to sit with him so he reluctantly got onto my lap. The dentist tried showing him on his fingers what she would do; count and touch them. She got him to relax a bit and open his mouth, a teeny tiny bit. She counted his teeth and then tried to get him to open his mouth to check his jaw. He complied, but barely. He wouldn't even stick out his tongue when asked. Hey, I'm happy he didn't clamp down on one of her fingers or scream and spit. Overall, considering what we had to work with, he did quite well. He got a sticker for a good effort. :)

Bad news is that Jameson needs to see an orthodontist. She doesn't believe it will be an issue until he is 6 (or at least until he gets his 6 year molars). I'll be putting it off until we move back to Canada. Besides, I can't imagine taking a 4 year old to an orthodontist. Sheesh.

Flag Holder

I love hearing what the boys did at school during the day. One day in particular I was asking Jameson what his job was at school. He proudly proclaimed that he was the flag holder. I asked him what everyone else did while he was holding the flag. He said they sing Yankee Doodle, The Grand Old Flag and they say the Pledge of Allegiance. I was a bit surprised and wanted to see if he knew the Pledge. Sure enough he was able to recite it, almost word for word. Stellan also started saying it in a bit of a jumbled up way. Even though it was so cute I was a bit disappointed that my CANADIDAN children were reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance. Apparently I'll have to do some homeschooling and get the kids to learn O Canada.

Little Stinker

Stellan came up from playing in the basement when James noticed that he has peed in this pants. This has been a common trend recently; he pees a bit, dances around, denies the fact that he has to pee, dances some more, then quickly insists that he has to pee as if it just dawned on him.
When James commented on the fact that he peed his pants Stellan looked at him and said, "No Daddy, I'm sweaty".
Not only is he a quick thinker he's also quick to lie. We'll need to work on that one. It's just so difficult when he's so darn cute when he says it.

House Guest

Well, we have a house guest, again....it's another mouse. Well, it might be a whole family of mice for all I know. James heard some scratching in the wall so we expected to find a furry little creature one day. He was preparing to set some traps with the hopes of catching the little rodent.
On Friday we were in the basement when I told James that we had to vacuum out the furnace/storage room in order to help me get over the paranoia of the spider I saw there last week. (I truly believe the evil little black creature was laughing at me when I saw it. I wanted to get the vacuum cleaner and the spider was sitting there right next to it. Needless to say I didn't end up vacuuming that day; I had to wait until James came home to get it for me.) Anyway, I hadn't been able to go in the room alone since the spider incident (I usually had Jameson accompany me or I would send him in for whatever it was that I needed). James, being the loving husband that he is, willingly helped me clean the storage room.
When we first started James noticed a cookie crumb. No big deal, strange though. Upon further investigation we found another partially eaten cookie and a few chocolate chips. It was at this point that we decided to investigate a bit. I found the source of the cookie crumbs...the bag of fig newtons. There was a neat little hole nibbled into the corner of the bag and about half a dozen fig newtons were missing. Ah ha..... Upon further investigation I noticed a neat little hole nibbled into the corner of a chocolate chip bag. (Not just any chocolate chips by the way, these were PC Decadent Chocolate Chips directly from Canada.) Half of this huge bag (the biggest I could buy) was missing. I figured we had a pudgy chocoholic mouse on our hands. Thankfully it was no where to be seen.
We continued to clean the room when I opened a drawer to get a card. It was then that I discovered something rather interesting...a stash of chocolate chips. Approximately a half a bag of PC Decadent Chocolate Chips worth. I quickly closed the drawer assuming that I would trap Stuart Little if he was still in there. We now had to pull out everything from the room, continue vacuuming and wash any open dishes. We also threw away the cookies, the chocolate chips and the rice cakes. (It got through the first layer of plastic but not the second. I just didn't like the thought of mouse saliva on the bag.) We ended up spending the entire evening cleaning the room. Not my ideal way of spending a Friday night.
I bought some new mouse traps last night and hope that we catch our furry house guest soon; I really don't want to have to go through the ordeal of cleaning that room again. I also don't want to lose my stash of PC Decadent Chocolate Chips.