Today I completely failed a child.
There is something to be said for moving. I’m not talking about the emotional weight of restarting your life, this is the literal disassembly and subsequent reassembly of your patterns and objects and routines. No two houses are alike and therefore trying to rebuild your life exactly as it was before is like trying to make chicken soup with shrimp. Shrimp is good but it doesn’t taste like chicken and no matter how you stir it, the flavor will never be the same.
With that in mind, it should come as no shock that sometimes important things are left unattended. Things like…toothbrushes.
This shouldn’t have happened because from the first week we landed here in Las Vegas Jason has been pestering me to find the kids a dentist. We take six month checkups seriously and haven’t missed one in years, especially where the kids are concerned. August was the six month mark and Jason did his best to shame me into finding a dentist.
Honestly, the first six months of this move was like trying to disassemble then reassemble a cooked casserole, there was always something on my worry list that trumped checkups. In the meantime we were rebuilding the morning and evening routines, shuffling bathrooms and bedrooms, starting school and dance and sports and trying to remember to pray…my kids teeth took a back seat.
In Germany June and Georgia shared my bathroom. This meant I was present and accounted for when it came to all brushing and all forgetting to brush. June’s teeth were part of my personal hygiene routine. With the boys, as long as I frequently threatened them with detailed accounts of needles jamming into their gums and the sound of the power drill, they were pretty good about brushing and flossing their own teeth.
In this house June and Rex share a bathroom. In fact I’ve made it my mission here, thanks to my dear friend Jeanie, to make my kids clean their bathrooms every morning after they brush their teeth. I’ve made such a big deal about this whole “keep your bathroom clean” business that it’s kind of replaced my old “brush till you bleed” mantra. I say, “Go brush your teeth and CLEAN YOUR BATHROOM!”
Assuming that I’ve obviously taught June how to brush and floss I have stupidly been sending my daughter to the bathroom and trusting that her teeth were being properly cared for–the back ones too. Pair this with the fact that we blew through our last six month check-up and it’s suddenly been a year since we’ve been to the dentist…
Epic. Mother. Failure.
My sweet girl has seven cavities and is going to need a crown. She was absolutely mortified yesterday when the dentist was looking at her teeth and showing us the x-rays. She’s naturally a responsible little thing who takes her personal grooming seriously and this, this was a devastating disaster.
For those of you looking at a move this next year or still recovering from a move from last year, a word to the wise. If you haven’t found them yet remember, you can never put your life back together the way it was and if you’re not careful, something will get neglected and you’ll end up finding cavities. Whether it’s your personal health, a kid’s grades, the state of your garage, scripture study, or remembering to brush your third child’s teeth, keep your eyes open.
Stupid sugar bugs.
This might not help but she does still have her teeth & at her age, I’m assuming they aren’t permanent. On the plus side? Bet she’s a lot better about listening to you to brush & floss.
Here’s one of my (notice I mentioned “1”) of my epic mommy fail moments. My teen son’s feet grew 2 sizes over the course of a few weeks. Not even thinking about it several months later he started soccer. Yeah, hadn’t updated his cleats. It took 4 wks for the custom order cleats to come in(did I mention he was now a size 15mens? No store anywhere close to us carries a size 15 soccer cleat). In the meantime, he had to wear the 12 1/2’s that made his toes Bleed Every Single Time He Wore Them. He was the goalie & a very good one so played constantly. I cried every game & practice knowing he was going to be limping, bleeding & that his toes were going to be cramping at the end of each game/practice. One of his toes is kinda crooked now. On the plus side, any time we’re in a store that has size 15 shoes we ask the kid if he needs shoes.