Teeth and Tires

A little polish, sir?

For some reason, I thought that scheduling a dentist appointment for Daniel at 8 AM today made perfect sense on our first day of vacation.  Our previous visit, while not unsuccessful, hadn’t been without difficulty. We had barely prepped him for this visit, and I worried how he would handle the cleaning since teeth brushing can be frustrating for us.

And as usual, I shouldn’t have worried.  He was in a great mood even though he hadn’t eaten anything, and I had rushed him out of the house in order to get there on time (although we were still 10 minutes late).  The hygienist told me I could sit down in the parent area several feet away, and I did with a little trepidation.  Daniel did a great job. The hygienist was able to polish his teeth and floss them – with a few interruptions.  Even better, the dentist said he was doing a good job brushing his teeth and had no cavities.

I’m so used to being by Daniel’s side for everything that it caught me off guard that he was old enough and mature enough to handle a routine dental appointment without me. I suppose this is the first of many times that I will be ushered out of the way or able to stay in the waiting room. My baby is growing up.

***

On Tuesday, I did something I had never done before. I put air in my tire. More accurately, I attempted to put air in my tire. Yes, I’m 36-years-old and had never put air in my own tires before. Jimmy had declared it a necessity the night before but was unable to do it because he is on call, so with much trepidation on both our parts, he gave me the tire gauge, $1 in quarters and drew me a diagram.

I promise I’m not as helpless as that makes me appear.

So I dutifully turn into the BP and head to the air area Tuesday morning. I read the instructions, get out my gauge, take the pressure and insert the quarters. I hook up the air nozzle thing-y. As instructed I keep checking the pressure every so often. The gauge hasn’t budged. Perplexed and convinced there is some sort of user error, I scrounge up another 4 quarters and try again.  The gauge still doesn’t change.  I’m frustrated, but I’m sure that the sight of me bent over my tire for 5 minutes was fun for the BP customers, especially since I was wearing a skirt.

I’m forced to conclude that either I’m a moron who cannot manage to put air in her tire or there is a leak.  Truthfully, I’m not sure which scenario is the better one because while I will feel like an idiot if I somehow failed to properly fill my tire, I’m not great talking with mechanics either, and either way, I hate looking and feeling like the stereotypical clueless girl.

In between my 4 meetings on Tuesday (ugh), I squeezed in a visit to a mechanic near work who Jimmy had vetted. I asked them if they could look at my tire.  It was pouring and chilly outside, and I was afraid that instead of coming off as an idiot, I came off a little bitchy. Isn’t it fun being female?

20 minutes later, the mechanic informs me that I have a nail in my tire. Hallelujah! They are able to patch it for $15 and I’m on my way, relieved it was a legitimate nail and that I was not a moron.

Although I think we will practice putting air in my tires this weekend 🙂

First Cold, First Tooth!

Poor worn out, sick, teething little man

November has been an exciting month in our household. Daniel was baptized on November 8 and then on the following Tuesday, the three of came down with colds AND as if that weren’t exciting enough, Daniel cut his first tooth during that same time!

Our colds came on very quickly. Mine was mostly in my head; J’s was mostly throat-related. Daniel’s was congestion. I have never seen so much snot in my entire life. The teething made everything worse, and I honestly think it bothered him more than the actual cold did. Tuesday night he was crying inconsolably and when I stuck my finger in his mouth, I was shocked to feel a tooth! Poor baby couldn’t sleep and baby Tylenol helped only a little bit. Wednesday morning the three of us were in the kitchen at 3am, and I decided right then that I was calling in sick. At that point I couldn’t have told you whether I was more exhausted or more sick.

Lo how the mighty have fallen. In the past I have rarely gotten sick, sick enough to need a sick day. I prided myself on what I was sure was a superior immune system LOL. It may still be, but the energy required to take care of a tiny boy has certainly breached it a bit! I’ll just chalk it up to one more thing that has changed since Daniel has joined us. Note to self: get more sleep and take some vitamins.

Our colds have passed, thankfully. J and I felt last week like we were getting them again, but so far, so good. Daniel’s congestion and prolific amounts of snot lasted for over a week. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday just to make sure he didn’t have anything more serious than a cold, and he doesn’t. My big boy now weighs 15lb, 13oz! We’ve all done a lot better since we set up a humidifier.

Thankfully, the worst of the teething appears to have passed for now as well. I hope he feels better. He still drools quite a bit, but he isn’t having the non-stop crying spells that he had two weeks ago. Hopefully subsequent teeth will come in a bit more calmly.

J, Grandma P and I all obtained the H1N1 vaccine since we are in one of the priority groups. J and I originally planned not to give the vaccine to D, but we are rethinking that now. It’s a bit of a moot point for now since he can’t get it until Dec. 2 at the earliest anyway. We’ll talk to his pediatrician at his 6-month appointment.

Fingers crossed we have no more brushes will colds this season. Nothing could be more enjoyable than torturing your baby with the nasal aspirator! And as I write this, I think I see another tooth about to come in. Here we go again!