A squawk of protest as I closed the bedroom door.
“You didn’t say anything!”
It was true. I had forgotten the nighttime litany.
Sweet dreams.
Sweet dreams.
Sleep tight.
Sleep tight.
Don’t let the bed buggies bite.
Okay.
I love you, love you, love you.
I love you, love you, love you.
Nightie nightie nightie!
Nightie nightie nightie!
You’ve got school in the morning.
(giggle)
Every night.
The live oak trees outside are filled with little green worms who shower down like rain. Hub went outside to check the mail and came in with a worm on his shirt. The girls were fascinated with it, so I took it off the shirt and put it on Jo’s hand. They played with it for the next hour or so, transferring it from hand to hand and watching the worm as it inched along. They named her Suzy. Suzy the worm. Suddenly, Suzy had something come out of her. “Mommy, I think Suzy frew up,” announced Caroline. I looked and thought it might be a little bit of worm poo. Then Suzy developed red blotches and started oozing liquid. The writing was on the wall – someone played with Suzy too hard and squished her. I told them Suzy was dying and said they played with her too rough. The girls were striken. On their own, they removed their bandaids from booboos earlier today and curled them into tubes to place over Suzy’s inert body. They stacked them up. Jo composed an epitaph. She planted an invisible note at Suzy’s grave that said, “Dear Suzy. Please know we are sorry and we loved you very much.” Caroline repeatedly lamented, “We had a worm named Suzy, but we killed her already!” Jo asked what Suzy’s soul looked like, and if it had gone to heaven yet.
Kids are amazing.
I updated my quilt gallery with a couple more that I’m working on.
Recent pics of the girls are in the gallery.
Dinner tonight was Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, courtesy of Alton Brown’s recipe.
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.
I was caught a little flat-footed yesterday. I really didn’t think the Tooth Fairy would be coming to our house for another year at least. Since Jo had to have one extracted though, it happened a little ahead of schedule. She got 5 Sacajawea coins under her pillow and was really excited about it. I slept in today since I was up all night with my nose completely stuffed shut (even Hub noticed how pitiful I sounded in the middle of the night trying to breathe), and Jo snuck into the bedroom this morning and started gently petting my forehead to wake me up and tell me about her loot. She’s so sweet sometimes… both of them are. They will wake me so nicely, rubbing my arm or my head or giving me a little kiss on the cheek. Hub could learn a thing or two from them. “Hey! You gonna wake up?” just isn’t the same.
We went into North Austin Medical Center this morning at 7:30 to get Jo’s teeth done. She was a little apprehensive about it, not knowing really what the crowns would be like. Eventually the anesthesiologist came and prescribed her some Versed for sedation. That stuff is the r0x0r! In contrast with the Valium she had last time, the Versed made her giggle and just not care about anything. They said she giggled and talked all the way into the OR and while they put the mask on her. The Valium didn’t really do anything but turn her into a wet noodle; she still was freaked out when they put the nitrous mask on.
After she was out, they were finally able to take a good x-ray and realized that one of her teeth was going to have to get pulled; the root was pretty much worn down and capping it would have just caused problems in a couple of years. So after about 45 minutes, she had 3 crowns and an extraction done and headed to recovery. All without me. *sob* She only spent about 15 minutes in the recovery room before they brought her back to the room we were waiting in. First thing she said was, “Where’s Daddy? I want Daddy!” Yeah, that’s my HEART you’re stomping on, but that’s ok. After another half an hour she started to perk up a little, drinking two things of juice and a glass and a half of water before she realized she was nauseous. Just a little burp, then she was okay. We came home, sat her on our bed, and she let out a BIG burp so I rushed her to the pottie and she was just a little bit sick, then announced she was all done and she was ready to take a nap. Not being the trusting sort, Hub set up a little barf bucket for her. I wasn’t too worried about it since she was going to sleep on Hub’s side of the bed, so if she yakked, at least my side wouldn’t smell bad.
Other than not really being able to eat anything, she seems no worse for wear, proudly showing off the Black Hole and the Silver Teeth to us and her sister. We’re gonna have to go back to the dentist in a couple of weeks to have a spacer put in so that there will be room for the permanent molar once it comes in. I’m glad it’s over with.
Jo and I went into the dentist’s office this morning. They gave her a little cup with some Valium in it for sedation. About 5 minutes after she had it, she started feeling it; 15 minutes and she was a limp noodle lying on the waiting room couch. She starting gnawing on her hand for some reason, and I had to tell her to stop it quite a few times. They gave it a full hour to take effect, then I carried her back to the treatment room and they put on the nitrous mask and started to take x-rays. And Jo started to freak out. She didn’t want the mask, she didn’t like the flavor of the topical anesthetic, she didn’t want anyone messing with her mouth, and she was crying. The dentist said that we could either hold her down and do the crowns while she lay there and screamed, or we could wait and schedule it under general anesthesia at the hospital. You can guess what I chose. Who knows if the medical insurance will cover it or not, but especially after reading Badgerbag’s horrible heart-wrenching experience with her child at the dentist and the guilt she felt about it after, there was just no way I could make any other choice. After reading her entry about it, I walked in there with the mindset that at the first sign that Jo was not okay with what was happening, I was going to grab her and run.
I was lucky, and the dentist (Dr. Singletary in Austin) talked to me before jumping in. Then tonight around 8:30 she called us at home to make sure Jo was doing okay after having had the sedative this morning. I think she’s a keeper. Jo’s pediatrician did something similar; called us every day when Jo was in the hospital as a newborn, then called us afterwards to make sure she and we were okay. It’s stuff like that which makes parents fiercely loyal; even though her pediatrician is a 20 minute drive with no traffic, we appreciated him checking up on us so much that we don’t want to find a closer doctor. I think the same will hold true with the dentist.
My 5 year old gets two crowns and a root canal tomorrow. For some reason, one set of molars didn’t form properly and basically had no enamel when they came in, and they’ve just worn away. Poor little kid. It’s hard for me to deal with, since I’ve never even had a filling!