Happy Birthday-Eve to Me!

Today was my last day of being 20-something. Yup, tomorrow I will enter my 30's. Weird? Yes. I can remember being a little kid and thinking about Old. At what age does a person officially become elderly? To my 6-year-old mind, Old began at age 30. Now that I am almost that magic age, I know better. Old begins when you decide not to be young anymore. That in mind, I decided to have fun on my last day of 29. I had it all planned out--after I picked Pepper up from school, I was going to take him out for a pizza lunch, do some birthday shopping for Snapper, take Pepper's bike to the park and work with him on riding it, and go to the library for book time before Snapper got home from school. It was going to be a wonderful day, full of fun for my little boy and me.

We got to have our pizza lunch together. He ate 4 slices of pizza, making it very worth the investment! Then we headed over to Barnes and Noble so Pepper could buy books to give Sis for her birthday. As I sat at the red light getting ready to turn into the parking lot, I had a sudden, strange sensation in my mouth. And then I felt something hard on my tongue. I reached in and removed what I thought was a piece of my lunch, only to find a chunk of tooth. And then the pain hit. Feeling the back of my teeth with my tongue confirmed that a large piece of the small tooth next to one of my front teeth had indeed chunked out. I am currently between dentists. So I got a couple of recommendations from friends, and made a few calls to find a dentist who would take a right-away emergency case. Matt came and picked up Pepper from me, and I drove 20 minutes to my new dentist's office.

I left the office 3 hours after I arrived. Turns out I had 4 moderate cavities and 1 major cavity in my front teeth. Yes people, in my front teeth. The piece that broke off was not even related to a cavity. So while my smile is sparkling and white once again (those teeth had gotten kinda tired-looking), my pockets and the front of my face are sore. All I can say is thank God for nitrous oxide and motrin! And thank God for grandparents whose hard work and generosity to me over the years paid my very...hefty...dental bill today.

Okay you moms, I can't stress this enough: Brush your children's teeth every morning and every night. Post a list of their favorite songs by the bathroom sink, and let them pick a song for you to sing to them while you brush their teeth for them. It has to be a substantial song like Jesus Loves Me (3 verses), or Old MacDonald (3 animals). Or recite 5 Little Monkeys for them while you brush. Get some of those handy, pre-strung flossers and floss their teeth, too. Get them started in a good pattern of oral hygiene while they are very young. Their teeth (and your bank account) are worth it.

To set the record straight, I don't neglect my teeth. In fact, I am ridiculously anal about taking good care of them. I think it is disgusting that regardless of brushing 2-3 times a day, flossing every day, and using mouthwash, I have these issues, while my husband, who brushes once a day and never flosses, never has any problems with his teeth. Ugh!

So happy birthday eve to me! I sure hope Matt already bought my birthday present, because my miscellaneous/gift budget is gone until February!