The things we do

See these little discs? Know what they are? Well, let's just say they fall into the category of "Things I never thought I'd be doing as a mother."

Last week Oliver chipped a tooth. At first, I was nearly distraught. When he smiled it seemed half his front tooth was missing. And Oliver has a gorgeous smile. I wanted it fixed, like, right away. Could there be a bigger dental emergency? Unfortunately, the on-call dentist that Saturday didn't see it that way. And, I'll admit, the longer the weekend lasted the less catastrophic it seemed. By the time we got in to see our super-ultra-incredible dentist the following Wednesday it looked relatively minor -- just a small U-shaped chip.

Mr. incredibly wise dentist told me it wasn't worth fixing. The machine that files teeth down, apparently, is loud and vibrates. "Ultimately, we don't want him to be frightened about sitting in that chair." He was right and I knew it. But still! I wanted that perfect, beautiful smile back!! And when I mentioned this totally superficial sadness, Mr. Dentist said he had an idea. He then prepared for me a little envelope full of these snazzy sanding discs and showed me how I might gently file the edge of Oliver's tooth each day to give it a smoother appearance.

I'm quite certain I'm the only mom who ever walked out of the dentist office with sandpaper and a set of instructions for fixing a chipped tooth at home! But you know what? It's working. Nice and easy. A little at a time and no stress for mama or boy!

And I have one more skill to add to my expanding resume!!