bling

after much research and deliberation, we took cosmo to a dentist in terre haute to have some dental work done. we traveled an hour and a half outside of bloomington because no pediatric dentists in town offer sedation for little ones. if a child this young is not sedated during dental work, then they are held down, strapped to something called a papoose board, or otherwise restrained by force. carl and i knew we couldn't handle that, and it seemed dangerous and impractical. i guess sedation can be risky too, but this dentist and his staff are trained for emergencies, and in 18 years of practice, he has yet to have one. it was not general anesthesia, but rather more like a drug- induced deep sleep.



it went really well, considering. we had to get up well before the rosey-fingered dawn and drive in the dark, and cosmo couldn't have anything to eat or drink (including water!) after midnight the night before. that was tough. i 'm not accustomed to denying cosmo water or food when he asks for it, and though we explained, he couldn't really understand. i brought my laptop, and we distracted him from his hunger pains with a little baby einstein. that worked pretty well (let's hear it for novelty!). the waiting room was all ours at such an early hour, and it has a lot of fun things to do. once he took the meds, it was a short time before he started acting woozy. we took him into a darkened conference room, and i held him and soothed him while he whined and squirmed and fought against the sudden onslaught of sleepiness. once he was out, the dentist took him back for the work. it was difficult to be separated from him, but carl pointed out that it was probably for the best.

he was still asleep when the procedure was finished, and slept for the whole ride home. he didn't wake up until the early afternoon, and was a bit unsteady on his feet. we had to keep a close eye on him throughout the evening, and he couldn't keep much down at first, though he was understandably ravenous. he did not seem to be in any pain, though he was not his usual cheerful self, and went to bed an hour early. by morning, he was fully recovered and all cosmo. he now has two silver caps on a couple of back molars, and some tooth-colored filling in the front. i showed him the silver in the mirror, and also pointed out my gold crown. i told him we call it "bling." he seemed pretty pleased with that.