Jack went to the dentist!

Jack went to the dentist yesterday for the first time. It didn't go as I'd expected. I thought that he'd be his normal cooperative self, but that wasn't the case. He squirmed, he clamped his mouth shut, and he cried at the top of his lungs. Dr. Susan was able to count his teeth, but that was all she was able to do. I am overjoyed to report, however, that she told me that all of his baby teeth are there (even if they did come in a bit crooked on the top left side), which means that at the most he might only need braces when his adult teeth come in. (Some children who are cleft-affected need extensive dental work, so I was worried...). We won't know, of course, until then, but this is very positive news indeed! One thing that I must add: Dr. Susan's husband is the pediatric dental surgeon that Jack saw soon after coming home. If you read the blog way back then, you might remember that I was concerned about the way that some food (like yogurt, or even mandarin oranges) came out through his nose when he ate. I learned then that Jack may have an alveolar cleft and may need a bone graft at some point in the future, but because he hasn't experienced those food issues for quite some time, he may not--I'll keep you posted...After leaving the dentist's office, we had a Mommy and Me day--lots of shopping, an unsuccessful attempt to get Jack's hair cut (cranky because he didn't have a nap), and lunch at Bugaboo Creek. I know he enjoyed himself tremendously there. He kept thumping himself on the chest, saying, Moose talked to me! Buffalo talked to me! Tree talked to me! He also demonstrated what the fish on the wall did by thumping his hand on the table (imitating the sound it made), putting his finger to his mouth, and saying, Shhhhh--quiet fish! (because the fish didn't talk like the other animals did). We also sat next to the raccoon who periodically peaks out of the wooden barrel, so Jack was a little too distracted to actually eat his lunch. We picked up jie jie at school at 3 pm, stopped at one last store, and finally went home. I was completely exhausted! This was my day off--I don't know how SAHMs do it.