Ramblings
Didn't know what else to call it.The dentist can't see me until next Wednesday. :( Okay, she could see me on Monday morning, but too early for me to have Quentin at daycare and be back here. First it was "sure, come on in and the assistant can do that for you right away." Great! Get everyone ready to go and the phone rings to tell me it's not what the receptionist thought so I have to wait a week with this shelf of stuff on my tooth, my root fully exposed again and VERY sensitive. Genetic predisposition to receding gumlines...grumble grumble.
Quentin is needing some mental stimulation these days. I think he needs music classes again but those don't start up until September. Drawing lasts five minutes, painting lasts less time than it takes me to get the paints set up, playdough lasts the longest at twenty minutes, building blocks are okay if someone is building with him, he doesn't want to learn the piano or how to read (hey, I'm trying anything), he needs some sort of fidgety thing to use his imagination on. He has a very complete tool set, but nothing to use the tools on (it didn't even come with enough screws to put the tool bench together, so there aren't enough to play with) and we don't use tools often enough for him to know what to do with the non-screwing toys other than push the button to make noise for a few minutes. I really need to check out what drop-in things the rec centre has going on...but I don't know if there are any for his age group. I just know of ones for younger and older kids.
Jam recipe: 4-5 cups of prepared fruit, 3-5 cups of sugar (generally this is 4:4), 1/4 cup of lemon juice, mix together in pot and cook until it reaches jam stage (10-20 minutes depending on fruit...berries are usually 10-14 minutes, apricots and peaches 16-20 minutes). Test for jam stage by having small plates in the freezer. When you think jam may be done at the minimal time, put a bit on a plate in the freezer for two minutes with the pot off the burner. If you think the consistency should be thicker, cook for 1-2 minutes more and repeat. Skim and jar. Makes around four cups jam. Tip: a little bit of butter (~1 tsp) in the jam generally makes for no foam and saves you the skimming step. The cherry jam I made yesterday was the first jam this hasn't worked for me...far too foamy.
Hey! Ramblings was a good title for this post!
Take care.
EDITOR'S NOTE: There's an interesting dialogue in this set of comments regarding dentists. Feel free to join in.
posted by The Jaded Bee @ 2:24 AM
7 Comments:
I love raspberries. I love raspberry jam too... especially with peanutbutter on toast. mmmm...mm.
Hockey, lol, thanks Adam!
By building blocks, I was meaning lego type blocks (mega blocks) without using a brand name. I've built many houses and towers with him. Last year I built animals for him (whale, turtle, forget what else), but that's keeping me busy, not him. What else do you build without getting the specific sets?
Ice hockey. My father would love you for that. Unfortunately, there are no frozen ponds in my backyard at the moment. Can't figure out why. Do you have one you could teach him hockey on for me?
I can't believe they are making you wait for your tooth... I hope you aren't in too much agony... any special reason why you don't visit dentists very often? Just wondering - I don't like going either so I'm always keen to hear new reasons.
Thanks for leaving the recipe - I will definitely try it out. I've made three batches of raspberry jam now and they are turning out mighty fine.
Activities for the near three year old? Good question - it seems like the attention span kind of jumps out the window. I know Kyle enjoyed cars - building up ramps with books and then playing around on them. We ended up buying some matchcar sets for pushing your car on but I think the books worked just as well and they have a much longer life span. Here are some more activities you can try: Make a job jar - put in simple tasks that he can do and then make a game out of cleaning... I don't have a jar but I give Kyle special jobs like washing the cupboards down - he isn't doing a great job but he is helping out and it makes him feel more apart of what is going on - I've also let him help with a variety of other tasks - he also helps whenever I'm doing any baking.
Now having typed that I'm sure you already do it. We wanted to get Kyle into some social activities this summer but everything here is for at least four years old - except for some library activities - but they are rather short lived - maybe there is something at your library. Whatelse? Soccer
I broke my front right tooth in half once playing ice hockey on a school field trip in grade 6. (Alexandra Vraciu found the other half of my tooth on the ice and I payed her 36 cents if I'm not mistaken :) ) After two root canal surgeries, a gum infection, and my first cap falling off randomly one day so that I had to go to church the next day looking like a grizzled hockey player, I ended up getting the ugliest cap ever and I was forced to wear it until grade 11 when I finally got a decent looking one (made for me in fact, by Tamlin Cooper's mother who works in the tooth making field). It was quite the ordeal.
I too have a beef with dentists...
I had a terrible teeth when I was a kid. I had a cavity show up in the middle of my front tooth. I seem to think I looked after my teeth and I know we didn't eat a lot of candy, so I figure I'm just more predisposed to getting tooth decay. In any case, I was very young when I went to get it fixed. After many tears, a dentist told me that she would show me all the instruments and how they worked after they were finished. I agreed. She never followed thru. I've been mad ever since.
On top of this whole scene, I'm still haunted by my brothers experience. He had some kind of infection in elementary school and we had to make a special trip to Prince George to have someone look at it. When they finished my brother couldn't stop crying. He cried the entire way home - 2 hours. His face was completely swollen and he actually went as popeye for Halloween because his cheek was extended so much. It healed but I think the lot of us were scarred by it.
I could go on and on about disappointments from dentists. I know the field of dentistry has changed in the last 20 years so I'm trying to be open minded about the kids going. My mother in law works in dentistry - front office, but she is very pro dentistry and makes a point of looking at Kyle's teeth every chance she gets and commenting on them. This is definitely a red button issue for me. I need to go lie down now, I've upset my twitchy eye. :)
Well, I don't think my experiences with the dentist have been as traumatic. I was fine with them. On my last walk to the dentist when I was 15, I pondered why people didn't just go as it didn't take much. (My father didn't go and lost most of his teeth, generally during dinner, by the time I was in grade 9ish.) Then I moved to Kamloops for seven months, missed going on that postcard reminder and didn't get another.
I didn't enjoy the dentist because I kept telling the dentist to not scrape my exposed roots (yes, I had them even back then) because it hurt so much. He always said that he wouldn't, and then the hygenist always did and said that she had to. So, yeah, wasn't too thrilled with the idea of getting my roots scraped there anymore, and I'm not one for finding new things/people/professionals...so yeah.
Then, when I was in Osoyoos for my dad's funeral, I got incredibly sick and lost one of my retainers. So, my mother told me where to find the last orthodontist I went to, which happens to be a ten minute walk from my house. They were really sweet. (I was last there when I was 13.) There's a dentist in the same office, so when I figured it was time for Quentin to see a dentist, as children are supposed to after they've had their teeth for six months, I decided to not be a hypocrite and make myself an appointment too. To save myself a lot of the trauma I was expecting, I didn't mind being incredibly pregnant so I couldn't have the gum surgery, or the x-rays to see just how many cavities a dozen dentist free years creates regardless of how well one takes care of ones teeth, or have my molars removed, or...
This broken painted on filling isn't too pleasant. I rinse my teeth with my milk at dinner, and the cold of the milk causes excrutiating pain. Tomorrow I get it fixed. But I'm sure my root will be scraped quite well before it does. With my children watching.
Castles...potential there.
My filling didn't take first go today, so she tried a different sort while telling me if it falls out again to let the hole get bigger before I get it replaced. Bah. Children were great while waiting though. And then we walked to the vacuum store to buy a new hardwood floor tool. Best thing? Quentin got to eat a blackberry on the way. Tomorrow we're going walking at the stream to see if we can find some more.
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