The Dentist

Gracie had a good day at back-up daycare. It was storytime when I picked her up and it was so much fun for me to walk in and see her sitting amidst all these other little kids on the floor enjoying the story. She gave me a big smile when she saw me, but I think she would have liked to have stayed for the rest of story time.

We headed right from daycare to the dentist. I was a little worried as she didn't take a nap. That is usually a sign of disaster. Not so. She was very tired, but she decided she would be the waiting area greeter and said "hi" a million times to anyone who came in, left, or just sat there. I realized that we need to work on getting her to understand the need for personal space as she would get right up into people's faces to say "hi" for the 10th time. Everyone was wonderful to her.

When the assistant came to get Gracie, she bonded with her immediately. She walked into the exam room with fish and turtles on the wall and marched right up to the dental chair and sat down like a big girl. I was so proud. She sat there all big and the assistant let her go up and down in the chair a few times -- big hit. Then the assistant left the room for a while and it got to be too long for Gracie. She kept asking about her and wanting to get down. I told her she would be back in a little bit. All of a sudden I looked at Gracie and she had big crocodile tears brimming her eyes and she was trying so hard not to cry. I asked her if she was sad and she said "no" as she continued to keep the tears at bay.

Gracie did a great job for the dentist too. She let her see her teeth this time around, but would not let her use the cleaning tool on them. The good news is that her teeth look good and seem to be healthy, despite the fact that she grinds them when she gets excited. No sign of wear yet. I was one proud mommy.

I forgot to mention that Gracie is sensitive to latex (i.e.: latex gloves)...so her cheeks were very red all of last night where the dentist had held her cheeks and chin during the exam. Oops...I'll remember next time.

We went home and had a snack, followed by supper. Gracie ate and ate and ate - some cheesy puffs and juice for a snack...then for supper she had a bowl of soup/stew, part of a bun, 1/2 an apple, 1/2 of a banana, 3 cookies, some applesauce and then later wanted some cake. Oh my.

Gracie was so tired she went to bed at 7:30 p.m. last night and was none to ready to get up at 6:00 a.m. this morning. She did have a restless night again, but not as bad as it has been. This morning we increased her seizure meds, so I'm hoping that might help. We'll see.

Today is a school day, so I have a feeling she will be tired again tonight.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie