leenaok

 

My baby girl is now in 2nd grade. And in public school. I miss uniforms already (but we'll see how this works).

The Kurian family drove Alisha to school for her first day of second grade. Of course, I took pictures...to the point where Alisha was like, "You can go now!!!" (but I know she will appreciate my efforts...one day). Tomorrow she will ride on a bus to school for the first time EVER! 

This weekend, Alisha lost both of her upper lateral incisors! Kinda crazy but that’s just how it worked out.  And since Alisha said the tooth fairy pays double on weekends (have to thank Sanjay for that one), I had to cough up 2 bucks per tooth!!!

One tooth came out after it started bleeding from the way she bit into a cookie.  
Here is Alisha minus tooth # 7. 


The other one was just annoying her (and she didn't even cry). 

Good thing Sanjay’s in charge of tooth extraction because I can’t bear to watch it, although I do take video when I can (for blackmail purposes)  ;)

 
8 teeth down...12 more to go! 

Here's an easy-to-read printable check-list if you're wondering what in what order teeth grow/fall out. Jacob's teeth are coming in at the rate that Alisha is losing them. So, she's lost 8 teeth and he's waiting for his 8th tooth (lower lateral incisor) to come in. 

Alisha can swim! She still needs to work on her kick and her stroke (getting her arms out of the water) but the girl is swimming at last! 


Alisha is making lots of progress!

I am really happy for Alisha because learning how to swim is incredibly important, especially here in Florida. Alisha has friends with pools and now I won’t have to worry as much when she splashes around with them in the water.

Today was Alisha’s appointment for sealant. Gone are the days when she could chew on ice and hard candy; that type of behavior can crack the sealant. Of course, it’s not as if Alisha eats candy on a regular basis, maybe once every few weeks. I still can’t believe she has a cavity! I have lost count of how many fillings I have (at least 5 though, plus a root canal w/ crown) but I’m guessing Alisha has inherited my “bad teeth” gene. I wonder if the laughing gas will help. Maybe it’s to keep their mind off of the long novacaine needle!

I haven’t been to the dentist in 2 years and am in no rush to go. Every time I go for a cleaning they tell me I am close to having gingivitis. Why can’t I ever get good news from a dentist? The only person who gets good news from the dentist in this family is Sanjay. The guy went 15 years without seeing a dentist and his teeth are in perfect health. Some people are so lucky.

So guess who came to visit, my mom! She totally surprised Alisha this afternoon. She’s here until Sunday to spend quality time with her grandkids, and to bug me about how I don’t water the plants often enough. Some things never change...

We went to the dentist today and Alisha was told she has a cavity! Like the glasses, I knew this was going to happen eventually, but not at the age of 7. Unbelievable yet believable. I guess it could have something to do with the fact that she spends like 30 seconds brushing her teeth. Alisha actually gets more toothpaste in and around her sink than into her mouth, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The hygienist said I should be brushing Alisha’s teeth until she is 10 years old!!!!! That’s a L-O-N-G time. I know for sure I don’t floss her teeth enough, maybe once every month, but it’s a pain flossing someone else’s teeth, especially when that someone is constantly complaining that it hurts, etc.

The dentist also recommended that Alisha have 4 of her molars sealed. First of all, I didn’t even realize she’d gotten her 6-year molars (also known as the first permanent molars). Secondly, I’ve never really heard of sealing teeth. Dental technology has come a long way since I was a kid. From what I learned today, sealing is basically coating your tooth with a melted plastic in order to prevent food from getting trapped in the crevices of the tooth and causing cavities. It goes where no toothbrush bristle can go. I look at it this way: either cough up 200 bucks for a filling later on or 62 dollars for a sealant right now (that should ideally last for years). No, we don’t have dental insurance but that’s because paying for all of this out of pocket is cheaper than the cost of dental insurance premiums (which don’t even cover everything).

So, tomorrow is our sealing appointment and our filling appointment is in 3 weeks. The dentist recommended N2O (laughing gas) for the filling appointment. I don’t recall ever needing N2O for my fillings but then again, my first filling wasn’t at age 7!! I would have LOVED to get everything over with tomorrow (since my mom can watch Jacob while I drive around town) but it’s a pediatric dental practice and all these parents are cramming in appointments before they go on vacation.