Open Wide

I never would have believed this 6 weeks ago, but Jordan managed a full dental appointment & came through with flying colors. She's thriving with the nursing care and the freedom from seizures. The nurses, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, Devon, and I have been working really hard with her mouth lately, and it shows. The dentist & hygienist remembered her from her visit in May, where they only worked on her for about 3 minutes, but this time she had her teeth scraped, wiped, brushed (with flavored toothpaste), poked, and thoroughly inspected. There are almost 20 poking through now, though some are just faintly hiding behind the gums still, but the report is that they are all fine & healthy & coming in just as they should be. Jordan even got some pretty pink bracelets for being such a good girl.

Jordan kept biting her fingers while she was trying to clean her teeth, so eventually she had to get the pry-bars out.
Her pretty bracelets for a job well done.

Of course Avery was a superstar -- no cavities & a bag full of goodies to show for her efforts, too. She got a cool new toothbrush, and a red egg timer. The timer is for knowing how long she has to brush each morning and night, but she's also using it for just about anything else she can think of -- can she beat the timer getting dressed, going to the bathroom, coloring a picture, whatever. Who knew it would be such a hit!

First the cleaning -- while watching an all time favorite "Elf" on the TV on the ceiling.

Getting ready for xrays
They tried & tried, but Avery just couldn't get the films to stay put in her mouth. Next time.
Waiting to see the dentist, playing with some chompersWatching some more "Elf"All ready for Dr. Neil

Can We Eat It? Can We Eat It?

After OMSI the girls wanted to decorate the gingerbread house aunt Janet had brought with her. It was originally a Halloween house, but it just took some white cake decorating icing & some green & red candies to transform it. Actually, it turns out, they just wanted to eat the candies, and even the house itself. Avery kept asking me if we could eat it yet. I told her not until after Christmas, so now every time she looks at it she reminds me that we can eat it after Christmas. One track mind, those 3-yr-olds!

I said no more kisses, Avery! Kelly jumped in to finish it off after the kids lost interest (i.e. we wouldn't let them eat anymore icing or candy)

OMSI Fun

Avery, Kate, & I had a play date at OMSI on Wednesday. It was raining, and we all needed to get out of the house, and it's always fun there.

They were really into the nature area this trip. Here they're coloring butterflies on the computer screen. Now that takes some eye-hand coordination, as they found out. The deer were watching them closely
Hugs for the best of friends. They're starting to pose like super-models sometimes. . . . I wanted a few pics of the girls in front of the Christmas tree, the first holiday pictures of the season. To the ends of the earth!
Even stuffed this polar bear was a little scary
They liked the polar bear den, until the sound effects of a roaring polar bear startedAntarctica & the penguins were definitely a hitThey even got to try to slide on their tummies like penguins doBut the hit of the day were the stereoscope topographic maps of Antarctica -- I had to drag them away from these to leave. They even commented on the 3-D topography "look look at all the bumps in there"
Red shoes in the rain. Next time we'll wear boots, since they were all wet by the time we got home.
The rip-off photo booth. I refused to pay $5 for this thing, so they played in it and I took pictures from the outside. It was almost as much fun as the science center itself.