Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2004. Mattie was two years old and was visiting with Peter's parents in Boston. Peter's mom had this cute whale themed kiddie pool. Mattie was unsure of what to make of this whole experience! He was cautious and fascinated at the same time. This was the beauty of Mattie. He had a natural instinct to observe and understand something first before plowing in and exploring. Given Mattie's personality and style, I never had to child proof our home.
Quote of the day: It is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change. ~ Queen Elizabeth II
This afternoon, I took both of my parents to the dentist. My dentist is in Washington, DC. So it is a journey for us to get there and thankfully there is a parking garage right next to the office. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to take my parents to this office. As it is, it is a long enough walk for my dad from the car to the office, and he wears out easily. But for now, I am forcing him to walk and take steps because I am a strong advocate of the philosophy.... use it or lose it!
When my dad visited the dentist in November of 2022, he got a very bad dental report. His cleaning produced a lot of blood from his gums and I was told that he had the beginning of tooth decay. How did that happen? It happened because we all assumed that my dad was brushing his teeth correctly. While in the dentist chair, we had my dad demonstrate how he brushed his teeth. We could immediately see that he no longer has the where with all to do this hygiene task. I am not sure why I hadn't figured that out sooner, given that I have to shave my dad daily. He can no longer do this task either, but that was much easier for me to visually see!
Any case, in November, the hygienist told me to get an electric toothbrush and to brush my dad's teeth daily. She said I did not need to use water or toothpaste. But the electric toothbrush helps to clean the teeth by the gum line as well as stimulate the gums. Given that I do my dad's morning routine of showering and dressing each day, I wasn't happy that I had to add another step to the process. But I did it!
My dad refers to the electric toothbrush that I use as "the jackhammer." Basically he hates it and dreads the process every morning. But what today proved to me is IT IS WORKING. My dad had NO BLEEDING in his dental cleaning today and the hygienist and the dentist both gave me a high five. In fact the dentist says I have missed my calling! FUNNY!
My dad doesn't understand why he can't brush his own teeth correctly! He asked the hygienist and the dentist this same question OVER and OVER. In fact, he reminded them that for 88 years he brushed his own teeth and doesn't get why his daughter now has to do it for him. So the hygienist took out a model of a set of teeth and gums. She asked us if we ever heard the expression, "long in the tooth." Of course we did! It is referring to aging gums, or just aging in general. With age, the gums recede and therefore more of the tooth is exposed. Therefore she thinks my dad is brushing his teeth the way he always did in the past, but unfortunately he is not compensating for the receding gum line and therefore is only actually brushing half of each tooth! It was an interesting lesson but despite the visual and the repeating the discussion of receding gums, my dad just couldn't get it! Needless to say, my jackhammer of a toothbrush will continue to come out each morning because it is clearly helping his teeth.
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