80

Jack had a dental appointment today. You may have noticed his front tooth is cracked ... and I think it may be dying. We wanted to get it checked. Ga had been monitoring it since the crack but he wanted Jackie to go to a specialist.

For the last few weeks I have been talking to him about the visit so he wouldn't be surprised or scared. I even got him a book about going to the dentist.

So, last night I reminded him again.

"Jack! Guess where you get to go tomorrow?" It's all about the tone. I tried to act like it was the BEST-THING-EVER.

"What?!!"

"The dentist! Isn't that exciting?"

"Yippee!" (He actually says that now.) "Hey, do you think Ga will buy me a present?"

"Ga? No. Your not going to Ga. You're going to a new dentist who works just with kids."

"What? Why? I thought Ga did a good job!"

Hilarious. First of all, for weeks I had been telling him about going to a new, gril dentist. FOR WEEKS. It's obvious he had not heard me once. He's already learned to tune me out. Secondly, he thought I fired Ga. How he wraps around these concepts, I can't figure.

Then, two hands out, very serious face.

"Will she have the yucky green stuff?"

By this he's referring to the professional toothpaste my dad used to polish teeth. Jack hates it and tried to tell him about it. Since his last visit, my dad has stopped using this product. Jack gagged. He gagged a lot.

"I don't know, Jack.''

"You better tell Daddy. I don't use the yucky green stuff."

So the appointment went well.
Joe called me soon after and filled me in very briefly. The doctor is going to fix his tooth. That should be an interesting appointment. Joe will be taking him.

When I got home from work, I asked JTR how it went.

"Good,'' he said. "She was good.''

"Was she nice?"

"Yeah, she was nice."

"Were you a good boy?"

"Yeah, I was good,'' he said, growing angry I was taking him away from fixing stuff with his mini-Home Depot tool box. "I squirmed my head a little -- but not my body.''

"It happens,'' I said. "Was she pretty?"

"Yeah, she was pretty. She had gril hair,'' he said, pulling away from me. (He's into hairstyles lately.) "Can I go now? I have things to fix."

And that's all he had to say about that.