Dentist and "Understood Betsy" and iPhone Blogging

Yesterday I took my boys to the dentist. All of them. It was their first time ever. Only Soren had ever been to the dentist before and that was when he was a wee tiny lad who shot himself head first into a playground step while at a birthday party, resulting in his top front tooth being shoved gruesomely far back in its socket. His memories of the dentist include being strapped to a table and given multiple shots in his mouth and then having that misaligned tooth pulled ever-so-slowly back into its rightful position. Surprisingly, he never had to have it pulled. The emergency dentist on call that week was sure she'd being seeing us again shortly, but it healed up perfectly and held strong until it fell out years later to make way for his adult tooth. 

So, first time in years for him and first time ever for Anders and Karsten. After a lot of frustration with finding a good dentist fit for our family and dental beliefs within our dental discount plan, I finally took the plunge and abandoned the plan altogether to find the holistic dentistry I wanted for my kids.  This place is great!  And guess what?  No cavities. Huzzah!  I was so stoked to hear that. Soren does have some decay issues on his two front bottom teeth, but the dentist said it is most likely a result of a combination of genetics and his poor diet way back when. Oh how I wish I'd known more about healthy eating back then! Oh well, lesson learned. So, probably veneers in his future. We are also looking at multiple frenum snippings in the future as Soren, Karsten, and Oskar all have pretty big front teeth gaps inherited from their daddy. 

Oskar stayed strapped to me in the Ergo the entire time. I fed him pretzel after pretzel and he watched Bolt with the boys. He did great and didn't even get fussy until right before we left.

Okay, Understood Betsy.  I recently made a goal for myself to read all the many hundreds of books I own. There are so many titles that look very engaging and I've missed reading so much in the last little while as life has simply swept me up and away from my beloved bookshelves. So, I marched against the current the other day and tugged down a book called Understood Betsy. It's about a little girl raised by her very loving but overly protective aunt up until that same aunt has to devote herself to her ailing mother, at which point the girl is sent to live with the "horrible Putney cousins."  Those cousins turn out to be wonderful people, which she gradually comes to realize as she also comes to know her own strength and smarts that were lying dormant under the hovering care of her aunt. I really enjoyed this book. It's fast. It's clean. It made me cry. I loved the characters and the language. Here are a couple of excerpts I thought were especially delightful:

"The matter was that never before had [Betsy] known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up." (p79)

And this next from Aunt Abigail, who was my favorite character. 

"I declare! Sometimes it seems to me that every time a new piece of machinery comes into the door some of our wits fly out at the window!" (p91)

I highly recommend this book. It was a fast read, two days tops, and full of character. I really found myself cheering on little Elizabeth Ann (Betsy) as she came into her own and found her strength and confidence. 

Next up: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. 

P.S. This whole post was written on and posted from my iPhone . . . while lying in bed.  SCORE!  :D