Henry-san Dons a Kimono

A beautiful gift from our friends the Eliots.  This baby kimono has seams that can be let out at the shoulders and he can wear it till he is 2 or 3.   I love it...and I love the Eliots!   
Henry-san is feeling his gums these days...maybe we'll see some teeth soon! 

And speaking of teeth, I think Greta has a cavity.  Recently a friend told me of how her daughter, Greta's age, has a few.  She could actually see them, I always believed you could only see them with an x-ray.  So today in the bright sun I took a look in Greta's mouth.   She opened wide and to my horror I think I saw a cavity way in the back.  Then in a very nonchalant almost cheery voice I said, "Oh, I think you may have a cavity back there."   A look of quiet terror fell upon her face.  I told her it was no big deal, everyone gets them, I had one here and here, pointing to spots in my own mouth.  Explained how even her friend has them and it's really ok, and that it may not even be a cavity at all, after all I'm not a dentist, just a mama.  She suggested I take another look because it was probably just some applesauce she had just eaten.  

So we changed the subject and went on with our day not bringing the subject up again.  I have been thinking about it though and feeling a bit guilty.  Not so much about the cavity but for the fear I could see in her eyes.  I may be partially responsible for that.  You see, when she was close to turning 3 we were having one of our many talks about how important it is to brush our teeth, blah blah blah, and we dont want to have rotten teeth.  "What do rotten teeth look like , Mama?"  (or maybe she called me Rachel)  It was then my brilliant idea to Google "rotten teeth" and show her some real honest to goodness rotten teeth.  I explained that she would never have teeth like that and tried not to scare her in any way, she was very interested, in a good way.  I tried to make it light and fun.  She absolutely loved seeing these pictures of bad teeth. It was often a request before bed.  Rather than her favorite book or story it would be, "Can we look at some rotten teeth?"  So that went on for a while and it seemed like a fun kind of educational time with her.  Now I fear that I have scarred my poor child.  At one point today while I was checking out her teeth she asked, " Do dentists pull all your teeth out?"   

In the near future there will have to be a visit to the dentist.  Before that though we'll have more talks about how great and friendly dentists are, maybe explain more about what they will do, find some picture books at the library.  I am really praying, just like Henry in that last frame, that it was just some applesauce back there.