NotSheep

A day of appointments today - optometrist and dentist. It’s probably cruel and inhuman punishment to make dental appointments for your kids for the day after Hallowe’en, but there you go. We left home shortly before 10 - Toby slept nearly the whole way, which made for a much more pleasant journey (at least as far as driving across the city can be pleasant) than his recent cry-until-we-get-there policy does. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at one point, when Barney and George were squabbling in the back of the car. George - Mr Drama - said, in his it’s-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it voice, “I’m never going to speak to you again ever as long as I live!”. Freddy, Mr Down-to-Earth, said in an almost bored voice, as he turned to look out the window, “You just did.” Such a great illustration of their personalities

We got to town a bit early, so I managed to get to the bank first, then we went to see the dentist. We’re fortunate to have a very nice NHS dentist. She told Barney that he needs to do a better job of cleaning his teeth (maybe he’ll take that more seriously, now that it’s coming from someone other than us? - I live in hope) and said that Freddy’s teeth were fine. Mine too. We don’t know about Jack, since he wasn’t in cooperative form, and I know better than to try to talk him around - he’s just not that kind of kid. Toby, of course, hasn’t got any teeth yet ;-). George’s teeth are also fine, but not where they’re meant to be. Or, to be more accurate, one of his upper front teeth goes in front of the lower teeth when he closes his jaw, as it’s meant to, but the other goes behind the lower teeth. According to our dentist, this might correct itself as other teeth come in, but it might not, and it’s easier to fix it now than later - but she left the decision about whether to go for braces now to me. He doesn’t need the whole set - just a small thing that will only be attached to two back teeth and one front tooth. I left the decision to George, as I was leaning towards “now”, but realised that without his cooperation, it would be pointless and probably traumatic. He listened carefully as we explained the pros and cons, and decided that he’d go for it.

If you’ve ever had a mold (or should that be “mould”? - I’m never sure, as they both always look wrong to me in this context, and googling reveals that one is a variant of the other - pah, useless!) of your teeth taken, you’ll know that it’s not a pleasant experience. Essentially they stick a huge wad of stuff that looks and feels like chewing gum onto a thing that looks like the gums of a set of false teeth, then shove the whole lot in your mouth, where you have to sit still, gagging and choking, until it’s set - which doesn’t take long, but certainly feels longer when you’re the one with the stuff in your mouth. George was fantastic. Initially he wanted me to sit across the room, but I told him to put his hand up if he wanted me next to him - that took about half a second after the pink gunk went in - and then he sat there, gagging and obviously a bit scared, but atypically calm and patient. Once the stuff from the upper teeth came out, he wasn’t keen to get the lower set done, but we explained that the first bit was the worst, and he was fine through the rest. He’s not in the least bit bothered about having a brace, despite Barney doing his best to wind him up about it. As far as George’s concerned, Alan Tracy from Thunderbirds has braces, so it’s just fine. Let’s hope that attitude keeps up once he gets them.

After all that, we went to the bank where the kids’ accounts are - a new month means it’s pocket-money time. Since George had done so well with the pink gunk, he got to choose where we had lunch, then we headed for the optometrist. Barney needed new glasses - he’s very slightly more short-sighted than last year, but mainly he needs them because his head’s getting bigger (stop sniggering at the back). None of the rest of them has any problems (thank goodness: I was worried that George might need glasses - not that he has any difficulties, but I thought that if he got fitted for braces and glasses on the same day, he might think he was being picked on!) It took Barney nearly as long to choose frames as it did to have everyone’s eyes tested - it’s beyond my comprehension how he can be so vain about spec-frames and still neglect to wash his face until threatened with me doing it for him. Mind, he doesn’t clean the glasses once he’s got them either, so maybe it’s a boys-attracting-dirt thing.

Back to pick up Scratchy, followed by a brief stop at the library to pick up some books that we’d ordered, then home for dinner, followed by some more trick-or-treat sweets, then bed. My flu has dissipated into an ordinary old loaded-with-it feeling, which is not pleasant, but is a darn sight better than chills and sweats and aches. I took some homeopathic stuff before bed on Sunday night, had a fever through the night and woke up feeling a lot better yesterday - it might have been time for an improvement anyway, of course, but I gave Jack the same stuff last night, when he was coughing so hard it was waking him and making him cry because it hurt, and the coughing stopped instantly, and he got a good night’s sleep, so he’s also vastly improved. Toby is still a little bit snuffly, so we’re about to cuddle together to get some sleep and inhale some Vicks Vaporub. G’night