Lot 666, a day in pieces:

Some of you may recall the strange affair of the B.B. at the Dentist. A mystery never fully explained. We are told, Ladies & Gentlemen, that this is the very day which figured in the famous disaster....OK, that's as far as I can go with the whole Phantom of the Opera thing.

B.B. had a 10:15 appointment at a children's dental practice in E'ville today. It takes us an hour & 20 minutes to get there. This time I knew they could deal with his unwillingness to be examined & gas him if necessary (not the fatal kind, the laughing kind). Husband took a vacation day so he could go & help out if needed.

B.B. did pretty well with the cleaning....and then the bad news. Horrible news. News that made my stomach drop & left me fighting tears while talking to the hygienist. That poor kids has to have 8 crowns. EIGHT!! And that's not including the fillings needed in his front teeth. We knew his teeth were a mess, but this was beyond my imagination.

But there was good news. We have pretty good dental insurance. 2 free cleanings & one set of x-rays a year, a $50 deductible, and after that I think it's a 20% co-pay or less depending on the provider. But the amount of work B.B. needs done was going to cost us an arm & a leg. Our other option would be for me to drive him 2 1/2 hours north to have the work done (in the town where Aunt Anita's sister lives) at a branch of the same dental practice that will take our Medicaid card. We are very fortunate to have both insurance & Medicaid (it picks up what our insurance doesn't cover). But the place we went today doesn't take it.

I mentioned setting up the three appointments this would involve at the town 2 1/2 hours to our north & explained our issue to the hygienist we were working with. She said, "You have dental insurance & Medicaid as secondary? Let me talk to my office manager." She came back 2 minutes later & said they'd take it & they could start working on him immediately since a patient didn't show up. An hour & a nitrous oxide nap later he was crying his little heart out because his mouth was numb & it freaked him out, but the tough part was over.

B.B. is now the VERY proud owner of 3 "new metal teeth!!" just like Iron Man.

After that adventure we made a few more stops in the big city including one at the pet store. B.B. is now the proud father of three Beta fish named Leonardo, Raphael, and Marie. Don't worry, we'll keep the boys separate.

We got home 20 minutes before the big kids got off the bus.

I'm worn out. I have no voice. My kitchen is a mess. But I have a new purple denim jacket I picked up on clearance for $2.50. And now I am off to bed as soon as we're finished watching Mr.Bean's Holiday with BabyGirl. G'nite.