Month: March 2011

This Will Hurt Me More Than You

Today will be torture. For Thing 3. And even more so for me. Today we go to the dentist.

To avoid a complete catastrophe when the event arrives, I have been casually mentioning it over the last week. Like when I brush his teeth, I told him he can get a NEW toothbrush when we go to the dentist. You’d think a kid would like something new. But not Thing 3. He doesn’t like change at all. He prefers his old, bent bristles, ratty toothbrush. “Nooo! I don’t want to go to the dentist!”

I didn’t mentioned it again until last night at bedtime, I reminded him that I would pick him up at school at 10:30 and we’d go to the dentist. “Nooo! I don’t want to go!”

Apparently, he was worrying about this all night. He woke up in a bad mood and, with no prompting, and has told us 137 times (I counted) that he doesn’t want to go to the dentist.

I don’t know why we even bother. A dentist visit with him consists of him kicking, screaming, and fighting while I hold him down and the dentist peeks at his teeth for 3 seconds. Money and time well spent to teach a 3 year old the importance of taking care of your teeth.

Spring Is In The Air

The snow is long melted and with it, the delusional thinking that comes with thoughts of warmer weather and longer days. Right now, it’s easy to have idealistic pictures in our heads of lazy summer days at the beach, kids frolicking in the sand. And so, we are contemplating resuming our family trip to the beach this year.

It had been a yearly tradition since Thing 1 was born seven years ago. But we skipped the last two years because one year we had two family weddings to travel to, and then last year with the arrival of Thing 4 it just seemed too much to take on while sleep deprived.

Luckily I have this website to remind me of the true nature of family beach vacations. There was this trip to Virginia Beach just months after Thing 3 was born. The following year we went to Bethany Beach, which turned out to be the tale of two trips. It was both the best of times and the “why the hell did I do this” times.

This year we’re looking at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It is just at the edge of the important 6 hour drive radius. That is the maximum amount of time that is possible to drive in a car with four kids without going insane. We have outgrown the ability to stay in hotels or condos, so the extra space and relative quiet away from boardwalks that is the Outer Banks seems like a good way to go. If nothing else, I should have some great blog material in a few months.

Workin The Wii

Thing 3 has really started to get into Wii. It’s really amazing how he is able to find his way through the menus and screens to play the games he wants. Maybe it’s from watching others do it, or memorizing from trial and error, or maybe he’s actually reading the words. I’m just glad he wants to do it on his own. His favorite games are Mario Kart, Bowling, and Just Dance Kids.