Roots run deep

On New Year's Eve, the girls and I had dentist appointments.  To say Alexis was nervous about it would be a gross understatement.  Luckily, it didn't keep her awake all night like some things tend to do, but she was worried.  The main reason she was worried was that she had another permanent tooth growing in on her lower jaw and the baby tooth was still there too.  The last time that happened and she had a dentist appointment, the dentist came out and asked if I wanted her to go ahead and pull it.  I said yes of course because the longer the baby teeth stay in there, the more crooked your permanent teeth can be (I know this from personal experience).  Well, she was worried on New Year's Eve that the same thing would happen.  She kept asking me if I thought she would get her tooth pulled and I kept saying that I didn't know, which was the truth because you never know for sure.  She was really nervous, and kept telling the hygenist that very thing.  Of course they came out and asked me if I wanted the tooth pulled...I said yes.  Afterward, the dentist came out and said that it was a good thing that we did that because it was NEVER coming out on it's on.  She said the root had not disolved at all.  Prepare yourself, here is a picture of Alexis's tooth:

In this picture, the tooth part only makes up about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch. The rest is the root! Luckily, her top teeth are already loose, so maybe they will come out on their own before those permanent teeth try to come in. Ryan and I tease Alexis by saying that she got the short end of the stick in the gene pool by getting my bad teeth and Ryan's bad eyes. But, she definitely makes up for those little things with her intelligence, creativity and personality!  Anyway, Alexis did great...she was a real tough cookie even though she was really anxious.  When it was my turn to go back to be cleaned, the hygenist said to me, "Your kids are the best!"  I thanked her and said yes I know! 

Seriously, they're pretty great.  Both Sunday and Monday evenings, Alexis and Kaylee had been having a difficult time getting back into the routine for school nights.  Normally, once they get ready for bed, they are not allowed to get up and come downstairs unless it is an 'emergency'.  We had to start this rule many years ago....basically once Alexis was moved to her big girl bed and realized she wasn't 'trapped' in her room.  Ryan and I had been a little relaxed with that rule over the break, so getting back into it was a little difficult.  Now there wasn't any fussing, yelling, fighting or anything of the sort (my girls know better!)...I would get the occasional visitor downstairs of someone "needing" something.  Mostly with Alexis, she wants to know what the definition of some word is....usually from some book she's reading.  I gently remind her that she has her electronic dictionary right by her bed.  Kaylee usually says things like, she's thirsty or she needs a fingernail clipped.  But Monday night after I had tried to send her back upstairs she claimed she was scared.  I said, "What are you scared of?" "The lighting and thunder." "Kaylee there isn't any lighting or thunder, it's too cold."  Then she got a silly grin on her face like 'ok you caught me'.  Silly kid.  But really, that's about as bad as it gets with those two.  And to solve this issue, all I had to do was have a little chat with them last night while we were eating supper.  I told them that they needed to get back to following the bed time rules for school nights so they didn't get in trouble.  That was it.  Nobody got up last night.  Yep...they're pretty amazing.  I really think that building that foundation of love, respect and consistency has made all the difference.  I very rarely raise my voice with them.  And on the rare occasion that I do, they KNOW I mean business.  Getting down on their level, grabbing them and whispering in their ear has worked wonders for me.  Plus, it saves them the embarassment of being yelled at when we are in public places.  A child's self esteem is such a fragile thing in these early years.  I don't want to be the one to steal their self confidence.  Oh goodness...sorry...(stepping off the soap box now).  I'll just end this by saying, Man I LOVE my kids!