The Dentist

Believe it or not, I'm about to head to bed at the unheard of hour of ~10:30 pm! Before I do, though, I wanted to post a couple of cute pictures from our adventures today and brag on the girls a little bit. This morning Ella was scheduled for her second visit to the dentist. She was not looking forward to it, but I convinced her that she needed to be a good example for her sisters. She was eager to help. I took all four of the girls by myself... knowing that Mimi would be there with only a moment's notice if things got ugly.



I talked and talked on the way there about what the hygienist would do, how I wanted them to behave, what a big girl Ella is, and how maybe soon when "they are big girls too" they can have their teeth cleaned as well. Upon arrival I asked them to all find a seat in the waiting room, and they quietly did exactly that. Right then I would have given anything to have had my camera on me because I looked up after signing us in to see them all sitting nicely side by side on one great big couch.... like four scared little kids who'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar or something.

We were called back almost immediately, and in true Mother Duck and her ducklings fashion, we paraded back to the room where Ms. Wanda was awaiting us. We got the coloring books and crayons out for Maggie, Kate, and Sarah. Then no sooner had I sat in the chair with Ella on my lap than several people peeked into the open doored room to say "hi" to the girls. That was the point that every single one of my 2 year olds started screaming and crying with real tears and everything! It was a mess for about 2 minutes until Ms. Wanda started working her magic with Ella, and the girls became enthralled with what was going on.

Ella did a fantastic job and even let the dentist check out her teeth this time. Last time she wouldn't let him near her mouth! She did such a great job as my little example that Sarah asked to sit in my lap and let the dentist check out her teeth too! Ms. Wanda was fabulous, and I hope we'll get to have her again next time! Maggie, Kate, and Sarah colored a tiny bit, but mostly they watched with a bit of fear mixed with enthusiasm as big sis starred in her very own teeth cleaning show. As a treat for such a glowing report from the exam and their good behavior, we went to Burger King to play on the playground for a while afterward. We ran into several friends there and ended up having a full morning play date. All the above photos were taken there. *Side note: Maggie has figured out how to climb all the way to the top of the play structure at our local Burger King. I wish I knew when Ella first made the summit, but I don't have it written down anywhere, so at least I'll have Maggie's accomplishment recorded.

This afternoon did not go quite as well so I'll be brief in my description. There was no nap for Ella, and the wee three only took a short one. Then when they woke up I stupidly gave them the cupcakes that were left over from Nanny C's birthday party last night. They were here and the girls were begging for them.... I caved. From now on I'm done with those kinds of sugary treats... their behavior was absolutely awful after the sugar had time to invade!! I'm throwing it all out tonight. Until all the sugary, nasty stuff hit their systems they were okay. We all played outside with their cars, bikes, strollers, and other goodies. They even pretended all together that a certain spot on our driveway was their campsite. They hauled chairs, blankets, strollers, and each other to and from the garage to the "campsite" for a good 20 minutes. The photo above is of said "campsite".... nothing special, I don't even think there's a crack in the driveway there.

I think I'll go back and label my previous post as "keeping it real" for when I want to go back and read about the rough times.... there are some of those even though I don't write about them often. I still prefer for the blog to remain our "Happy Place on the Web" for the most part because more than anything this blog is for me, Scott, the girls, and our treasured memories... not the ones we'd just as soon forget! Thank you for all the comments, emails, calls, and suggestions I've received. Things are looking up!