Look, Ma! No Tooth!

 

Mom got a text from Ben's teacher just before lunch on the day after Valentine's.  "New smile headed your way!"  She also sent the above picture.  His back tooth started coming in a couple of weeks before and the front tooth just got more and more wiggly each day.  It started "flopping around" at school that morning and Ben decided he was going to have the nurse help him pull it.  Wow!  Mom was so excited she could hardly stay away from the school until pickup time and was also relieved that the nurse pulled and took care of everything.  

Mom and Dad had a new tooth pillow ready for Ben when he got home to put his tooth in for the tooth fairy that night.  She came and Ben is now trying to see what else might be wiggly enough to come out soon. 

Interview with E: Four Years Old

What is your name?

Elizabeth

How old are you?

Four (shows fingers)

What can you do now that you're four?

Shuffle step

Tell me how you celebrated your birthday.

It was good.  I bounced.

How tall are you now?

523 (shows height with hand)

What is your favorite color?

Pink!

What is your favorite TV show?

Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins

What is your favorite movie?

Toy Story and Cinderella

What is your favorite book?

Pop Goes the Weasel ???

What is your favorite outfit?

A Doc McStuffins outfit that we haven't bought yet.....hmm.....

What makes you happy?

Petting a dog

What makes you sad?

Bad words

What is your favorite song?

Jesus Loves Me and The Bible Song

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Doctor and Mommy

What is your favorite food?

Chicken Nuggets

What is your favorite fruit?

Peaches

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Pop Tart

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?

Pancakes

What is your favorite snack?

Fruit snacks

What is your favorite cereal?

Corn Pops

What is your favorite drink?

Water and milk

What is your favorite part of school?

Going outside

What is your favorite thing to do outside?

Play alot

What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas

What do you like to take to bed with you at night?

Puppies

Who are your friends?

Mikah

What is your favorite animal?

Puppies!

E’s 4 Year Old Checkup: The Shots Heard ‘Round the World

Mom told Elizabeth that it was time for her checkup to see how much she had grown this year.  Dad was able to join us (thank goodness!) and Elizabeth did really well getting weighed, measured and checked out.  Everything looked good.  We asked the doctor a few questions and were ready to leave with no concerns.  We knew that shots were coming at the end.  After the doctor left, Mom quickly started to tell E that she needed to get medicine to stay healthy and they were going to be shots that gave her a pinch in the leg.  We told the story of Ben’s experience and how worried he was but that he just gritted his teeth and closed his eyes and didn’t even make a peep.  Elizabeth practiced the face and we let her know we would be by her side the whole time.  It is a good thing there wasn’t much more time before the nurse returned or Mom would have started gloating about this wonderful teaching moment and planning how she would tell Ben what a great example he was. . . . .

 Her pre-shot smiles

The nurse came in and Elizabeth was nervous, but followed the instructions to lie down and hold hands with Mom and Dad and that something cold would be coming first.  That was the first crack in her armor.  She does not like cold things to be on her skin!  She started whining and then before we all knew it the shots came one, two, three………. Blood curdling screaming and messy crying ensued.  Each shot getting louder results than the first and the nurse’s eyes bigger with each one.  The nurse let her know how sorry she was that it hurt and told her to cuddle Mom and Dad and get some hugs to feel better.  Well, she evidently didn’t realize how mad Elizabeth was at Mom and Dad.  “NOOOOO!” Elizabeth screamed.  The nurse looked confused.  Mom and Dad let the nurse know that she just needed a moment and all would be okay.  We tried to comfort Elizabeth and worked at picking her up to hug but she would not have any part of it.  She finally sat up enough so she could spit on and yell at Dad about this injustice that she had just endured.  She was determined to just leave without her pants as she was surely not going to be touched on her legs any more, but Mom convinced her to get back into her clothes carefully so we could press toward the goal – ice cream.  We even collected ourselves enough to give the nurse a smile and a “have a good night!” on our way out.  The nurse looked relieved and was likely glad there was no more screaming and that we were leaving.  It isn’t good PR for a doctor’s office to have a child scream like they are having their legs sawed off when convincing other patients to hold still.  

Elizabeth was still a little grouchy on the way home, but looked forward to getting home so she could eat her sucker.  She enjoyed her sucker at home and we thought we were going to dinner and ice cream next.  Well, she had removed her pants again at a restroom break and let us know that she would not be wearing pants in the car, but would put them on in the restaurant.  That wasn’t a good answer so it took a while to decide that ice cream was worth wearing pants.  By the time we got out, it was getting later so we decided to go for one stop – the new Dairy Queen.  Both kids found something they liked on the menu and were looking forward to a treat.  We agreed that they could even get a Blizzard.  They had never had a Blizzard before so we did our best to explain.  Ben was sold on the concept and eagerly ordered.  E finally decided on M&Ms.  Well, part of the experience is that the nice young man that makes the Blizzard turns it upside down when handing it to you to show you how thick it is.  Elizabeth thought he was dumping it out or something and lost it again.  “I am not eating that!  I need a new one!”  We apologized to the nice young man and let him know it was way beyond his scope to fix this and proceeded to try to get to the car.  On the way out, Elizabeth managed to shove the Blizzard into Mom’s pants and the Blizzard was promptly confiscated.  She whimpered all the way home about her ruined ice cream, but realized eventually that she was the only one not enjoying ice cream.  When reality set in, she magically became compliant and admitted later that she did actually like the ice cream after she tried it.  Longest.  Day.  Ever.  

The good news is that the next scheduled shots aren’t until 11.  Maybe by then she will realize that Ben’s method of closing his eyes is better.