A family friend who has a little girl around Evan's age asked us if Evan has seen a dentist yet. I told them that I had our family dentist said to wait until he was 3. "That's what we were told too until we noticed that something was wrong with C's teeth and brought her in. It turned out that a lot of her teeth suffered from tooth decay. She ended up with having 4 caps put in," C's parents related to me.

Evan flashing a smile while watching the Aristocats video on a dress rehearsal night before Halloween.

What was scary was that, the first dentist they went to even recommended to have 8 or more teeth worked on which would have costed the couple $8,000 (they didn't have dental insurance for the little one or so they thought.) They went to another dentist for a second opinion, thus only 4 teeth were capped (upon this dentist's finding). They were also relieved that by some twist of fate found out that C's dental insurance was covered all along. They "only" paid $800 of the $2,000 bill.

I asked them what was the cause of C's tooth decay and to my shock, according to their dentist, it was breastfeeding before bedtime after C  had brushed her teeth. It was the first time I have heard of breastfeeding being the culprit for rotting a toddler's teeth. Books have warned about bottlefeeding as toddlers (especially with juice) and dropping off to sleep while nursing a bottle. That was why as soon as Evan turned one year old weaning him from the bottle was my first priority, a project I gradually started when he was only 4 months old.

I am pretty firm about brushing Evan's teeth that it is rare he goes to bed without doing it, even on many nights when he isn't very cooperative. I have read that children needs to have brushing of their teeth closely supervised until the age 6. Evan started brushing his teeth when first tooth appeared, initially with a washcloth as recommended by the pediatrician, then eventually with an infant toothbrush. He brushes 2x a day nowadays. By himself in the morning (copying mommy) and with my help at night.

So you can imagine how I got paranoid for a second when this couple told me their story. I was already thinking of bringing Evan to the dentist the day after. But the couple reassured me that if there was something wrong with Evan's teeth it would be noticeable. As I would tell Evan every night, "open your mouth wide so that mommy could sweep the germs away from your teeth so that they can't dig holes which will be painful for Evan."

Three and a half more years till my little boy can be trusted with his own toothbrush. Sigh.

Awwww....

I was busy doing notes on a legal pad when my 2 year old came to me with a pen and scratch paper on his hand asking me to draw a truck. I told him, "later Evan, mommy's writing something," as I continued doing my shorthand. He sidled beside me and scribbled on the same page I was working on. He asked again if I could draw him a truck (my hundreth truck drawing this month), so I gave in and doodled the usual image I have been doing for him.

He then asked me if I could draw Evan. So I also doodled the usual Evan drawing.

My son looked at the drawing, then looked to me with an usual intensity. He climbed the coach and sat beside me. He put a hand on my chest, another hand on my shoulder brought his face close and said, "I love mommy."

Currently listening to: Come On Get Higher (Matt Nathanson)
Currently reading: The Wrecking Crew (Thomas Frank)
Currently watching: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Jason Segel)