All in all, it went well. I have another appointment in June to have the mid-range deep cleaning and the other two cavities filled. Joy!

I’m actually kind of relieved – I was expecting this to suck and the dentist was really cool. I’ve never had terrible experiences at the dentist, but really, who loves going?

The tooth I went in for is not a problem. I have some gum erosion because of early gum disease (thank god I didn’t keep that labret, right?) and what I thought was a cavity is “mature plaque.” Yum.

I do have four cavities, small ones. I didn’t even know about them, so they can’t be that bad. They are cutting me a break on it, 150$ a pop instead of they 195$ they charge people who have insurance. I also need a deep cleaning (they Novocain you up for this and scrape under your gums), which is another 105$

Hello Bank of Dad, I need to make a withdraw. I made an appointment for two weeks from today, and he’s going to go with me and charge it and I’ll pay him back. They offer that credit card… thing that is from GE Money Bank, but we used that about three years ago to pay for our glasses and I settled the account with GE for less than we owed. I didn’t expect to get approved for it again, and frankly, at 29% interest, I didn’t want it. Dad is just happy I went in and can get this easy stuff taken care of – my moms mouth cost them over ten grand and that was with a discount, and he footed the bill for Michael’s mouth as well. I think he is happy to not have to pay for more than it came to. If I could put it off till after December we would have it, but I don’t want to wind up with something worse. It’s the first time I’ve been to a dentist in over ten years – last time was when I had my bottom wisdom teeth cut out. I think I was 18.

Then I was asked if I had braces, I said yah, and he was all “you don’t wear your retainer?” I said, ah, I had braces when I was eleven. I am sure I had a WTF? face on too.

Oh! It’s been talk to Jenn about her tattoos & ears week too. I had kids all over my arms & ears at therapy on Thursday, and the dental assistant who did my x-rays asked about them, and the dentist himself was all “I guess it’s a good think you’re used to needles” (fucker) and the counter girl asked about my stretches – it’s been a weird body modification oriented kind of week.

Eshiva & Malachai had 9 AM appointments at the dentist. Eshiva was getting a crown, and Mal was getting a quick look-see.

Malachai was finally seen at 10:10AM and was done by 10:30ish. Remember, our appointments were for 9? Yah. Anyway, he more or less cooperated with getting a quick check out, nothing else. He has an appointment for March 5 at 8AM and he will be given a liberal dose of Benadryl (by the dentist) and wrapped up in a papoose and will have his front two teeth removed. I need to talk to our ST about this today.

At 11AM I demanded a new appointment and told them we were leaving. The receptionist assured me we were next, but she had been assuring me of that since 9AM. There was another lady who had been there since 8. My kids hadn’t eaten yet and Michael had to get to work – we left. Eshiva has a new appointment for next week. If she isn’t seen within fifteen minutes we’ll be getting yet another new appointment.

The dentist was awesome today with Malachai, and usually we only have a 15 – 20 minute wait. Two hours, and they still had no clue of when we’d be seen? Why bother making an appointment at all?

Mal got a tee for being so awesome at the dentist (seriously, I can’t even get him through the door to the back area, let alone in the chair) and I don’t know what I’m going to do on the fifth. Well, I do know. Michael is taking him. Don’t judge – I take the other two back. I just have a soft spot for Mal.

The dog pulled down our new (used) PS2. Thank goodness it still works – I refuse to buy another one. We just bought that one to replace the one he broke.

I realized last night that the reason my “TANSTAAFL” didn’t look right when we tried to do it last is that I wanted to put “GROK” in that spot. “TANSTAAFL” will have to find a home on the other wrist. Which kicks “Be Remarkable. Do The Impossible.” out, but that can go elsewhere too. I am a Heinlein whore. Absolutely.

Today has not been a great day, and I was yell-y this morning. I am feeling better now.

I cried last night, well, teared up at the least, because President Elect Obama’s grandmother wasn’t here to see him be the choice of the people. Because he was overwhelmingly the choice of the people. This wasn’t the “too close to count” race of 2000. This wasn’t the disappointment of 2004. This was an overwhelming outpouring of support.

He gave a speech worthy of ID4, a speech I hope they will be replaying for days, weeks, to come.

I haven’t written much on him. I truly believe he is our every man. We’ve elected someone who is young and has most of America’s interest at heart (most, because obviously, not everyone wants what he wants, I’m OK with that).

I am bowled over with happiness that McCain/Palin did not get this honor. Why? Their politics scare me. Their belief in god (big G, little g, it matters not) scares me. No god should be in charge of America. Look where it’s gotten us.

We may not see positive change this term (I would be shocked), but it is being set into motion. As early as today it is being set into motion.

I woke Dorian up last night because he wanted to stay up, but I knew it would be too late. I told him Mr. Obama won and will be our next president. I feel a little bit safer, better, more secure for my children’s futures today. It’s a little bit brighter outside. My heart is a little bit lighter.

Sure, sure. We as a people helped make history last night, but frankly, that would have happened either way (by way of a not 100% white man being elected, or by way of someone with a uterus being elected). What our country did was put aside most of it’s differences. What our country did was really take a look around and understand that we can’t keep on the path we’re on. So we’re going to veer a little bit now. We’ll head in the right direction yet.

My generation looked past the colour of that man’s skin. I cannot wait to what change the next generation brings, and the one after that.

Other than general medical history type stuff, he suggested we see a nutritionist (after we explained M is a very picky eater, rarely sits to eat with the family but always seems to be eating something and is not malnourished) so I’ve already phoned our pediatrician for a referral and will get a call back when that is ready. The nutritionist associated with CMS is only there on Wednesdays, so we’ll be down in Ft. Lauderdale at least once more, on a Wednesday, probably early again. The RN said it may be worth looking at altering his diet to help alter some of his behaviours if they show to be connected. Because he likes so much dairy, there is a good chance they are connected, so we’ll see what happens.

That’s about it for now. I have real work to day. You know, as opposed to daily stuff for the people and house. *laughs*

Malachai had a dental appointment this morning. First of all, it’s around a half hour drive. Not so bad, but not great either. Then we wind up parking on the top floor of a six story parking complex, elevator down, figure out where to go and sign in. The doctor was great, tried to help calm him down, good with kids. It’s already better than the last dentist we tried to see. I barely got him in the chair – no xrays today either – and he was papoosed into the chair. I held his hands (they didn’t get them in there lol) and his legs and they used one of those doohickeys to keep his mouth open while she did a super-quick exam and cleaning/rinsing/brushed on the fluoride.

He has a cavity in the top front teeth (it’s smack in the middle of both, I guess technically it’s two) however, as he is six, she said we’ll just let them fall out on their own instead of treating the cavity. He isn’t in pain, which is why this visit got put off so long, so I wasn’t super worried anyway. I wanted it looked at just in case, and it has been, so good.

He has another appointment in six months.

He screamed the entire way out to the car (I carried him, heavy boy!)  and continued to do so in the car. Turns out he looooves music – I realized just how much in the past few days – so I was playing pseudo-DJ in the car to find stuff he likes.

We decided to take a quick trip into IKEA. Had some lunch (it had been long enough between the fluoride and getting there to eat) did some shopping, dropped Mal off at school as he was suitably calmed down and came home.

Our internet was down this morning, so I am catching up on email and some work that needed uploaded. Decided to take a blogging break.

This afternoon Mal has therapy, Michael is headed down to Sunrise to get some more work done. Meatballs and rice for dinner. Yay IKEA lol I need to get my camera out and take some photos. I’m not even participating in my own photo contests *sigh*

I am headed for Broward General on Tuesday for his intake for CMS, something that should have happened in June. Seems like we’re falling through all sorts of cracks!

His IEP is October 1, and hopefully we’ll have his sensory diet written up by then in order to have it implemented into the IEP (so the school has to use it). The aid was approved, but it is one aid for 4 or 5 kids. Not the best, but better than nothing.

I can google, but they are all different, so who has experience with this? Is it going to be as “on 100% of the time” as I feel like it is? Are his needs about to take over my family? *sigh*

I am not borrowing problems, I promise. Here’s my problem, it already exists, and it existed loooon before I ever thought about having sex, let alone kids.

I grew up with OT/PT/ST things all around me. In my home, at E’s school, at her therapy appointments, you name it, it was always there. I have kind of a built in fetish for ortho stuff, probably because of the exposure I got as a kid. No, I’m not worried my kids will wind up with some weird fetish (I am not weird, and I have no problems with my fetishes, in or out of the bedroom. I also get a kick out of my odometer reading as a palindrome.) I am worried it will take up family money, take over family time, and push them out. Why? Because I’ve been there/done that.

I have no problem buying big, peanut shaped balls. No problem buying a soft mesh swing to hook up outside to play superman in. No problem buying special toys that maybe don’t cost extra but I normally wouldn’t buy only to satisfy his need for whatever (texture, sound, you know, whatever).

I do have a problem when it eats into our family, and the idea of a sensory diet, which, from what I can tell, is an all the time thing.

I totally googled – http://www.google.com/search?q=sensory+diet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I read almost three pages worth of results.

I just… I don’t want D & E to resent M like I did my sister. I love(d) my sister, but I totally resented her and what she took away from me for a long time.

Rushed over to the boys school to see who their teachers are this year. Malachai has Mrs. Mitchell, which I was hoping for. Dorian had her last year, and I think she’ll be perfect for M this year. I let her know M&W are going to be long days for him. Not anticipating a problem, but just letting her in in case it is. Hot-footed it over to the other new building to meet Dorian’s teacher, Mrs. Vassal. She’s a cute little thing! I am not used to be taller than anyone, but I was. She is very structured, communicates in the homework book (fabulous for me) and was on the ball! I think Dor will do great in her class. I let her know M&W will be long days as well (by association) but I am going to try and arrange to have a sitter so D isn’t out so late. Again, not anticipating a problem, but mentioning it just in case. Stopped in to see Dr. O about the aid for next year. It’s not sounding good. She said they might get one aid to share between the kids who applied, and Mal might get an hour a day with him/her. Well, it’s better than nothing, right? I mentioned he has PT/OT/ST twice a week and we did get hours after school. She said I am just like mom, whether I want to be or not *laughs* We were approved for free breakfast/lunch this year, so that’s good. The boys prefer getting hot lunch to packing a cold one, and it’s 4/5 times a healthy, well rounded meal. I’m really excited about school this year, can you tell?

Grabbed some lunch, and now we’re home! Shop may or may not be closing early tonight, so we might be hitting the expo tonight instead of tomorrow night. I guess it depends on when they close.

I pick the boys up at five today from camp. I need to decide if I am picking up a cake or not… we are celebrating on Sunday, so I figured we’d get a cake and do presents then, but I wanted to give him the MP3 player tonight. I love making birthdays special, but everyone schedules make it hard to do it on the day of the birthday, you know? Maybe I’ll order pizza tonight as a special treat. We’ll see.

Oh, I almost forgot. I had the weirdest dream this morning! First I was dreaming I was following Michael in the car, and he turned, and then I turned, but I turned wrong and got stopped and given a ticket. I kind of woke up from that, and fell back to sleep. Then I dreamed we were at the house, and I get a call that DCF is coming in a half hour! I freak out that we need to clean up, put the clothes away, etc.. The house in my dream was a sty, it was awful and I was freaking out that they were going to take the twins away and the kids and next thing I know Michael was rubbing my  back (IRL) and I mumbled the dream to him and thanked him for waking me up. Then I dozed back off and fell back into the dream, still rushing around trying to clean up a house that seemed familiar, but wasn’t really anyplace that could exist in the real world.

OK, I only have the papers for PT, which came in the mail today, and recommend PT twice a week for 30 minutes each time. The ped. has to approve it and then we can make an appointment. Since we did the PT intake on Tuesday, and the OT/ST on Thursday, I figure we’ll have the other two reports on Tuesday of next week.

I think I may have spoken too soon when I said I prefer monrnings, because it didn’t really dawn on me that it probably meant keeping him out of school five days a week for up to an hour a day (to account for travel time too). OTOH, I don’t want to do it in the evenings because I don’t really have the time between picking them up from school, homework, making dinner, etc… and I’d have to take the other two kids with me. At least if it’s in the morning I only have Eshiva with me and Michael can go too, or one of us can take him alone and the other can stay home with Esh. I guess we’ll see how it plays out.

We still haven’t heard about the aid for school but we have not gotten na rejection letter either, and school starts in just a couple of weeks. I am hoping it’s a good sign.

And today:

The OT papers came today, I wont even get into it lol This one was 10 pages of what he can’t do, from properly holding a pencil (and adjusting his shoulder/trunk to compensate for it) to not liking to go backwards or upside down to a bunch of other stuff (like eating, paying attention, sitting, etc..) and suggested 45 min twice a week for 6 months, then re-eval.

Still waiting on the speech papers, and I am at the end of my rope about how to handle these appointments. I think this is why I was so happy to not have ins. before. I remember this, all the appointments, all the schlepping around, and my mom only had one other child to deal with. I don’t know how this is going to work between wanting morning appts (so Michael is in the loop) and not wanting him to miss school…. I’ll really worry about it when it happens, I’ll talk to the ESE lady (she’s fantastic) before hand and figure it out. I know it will work, I am just feeling very overwhelmed. This hasn’t even started and we’re at 1.5 hours total so far, which isn’t a lot, but plus travel time, plus ST if they decide to do it (he does get 4x 30 min at school, so they might not, and I like the school speech lady).

Still no word on the aid, but no denial either. It’s a little late in the game for a denial letter, so let’s keep hoping!