Tracy Sadtler: Sorry to leave you hanging...

When I wrote the last post, Riley had just been to the dentist (whose office is right behind his school - they bring him from his class to his appointment and back again, I don't even have to be there! Unbelievably convenient!). I called them after his appointment, to see how it went, and they told me that they had done his crown ... so I was expecting him to come home with his "silver tooth" in his mouth. (He is very excited about getting a silver tooth, by the way, and I am just letting him be excited, even though I am not.) So that was going to be my news about Riley - and a potentially good photo, too - only when he got home, he only had a filling done. Nothing so dramatic.

So to back up a bit, years of sucking on socks and blue blankies has caught up with us, and Riley's teeth are full of holes. One really big one, on which they are planning (at a future appointment, apparently) to put a stainless steel crown. Can you imagine a crown on a primary tooth? On a 6-year-old? Can you imagine what a crappy mom this makes me feel like? Or how much it is going to cost, even with (thank you God) dental insurance? Just good, good news all around. We had him at a dentist in Washington, about a year ago, but he was so hysterical at the appointments that they could not do any fillings without sedating him, and with no insurance at the time, that was just not going to happen. So here we are.

Anyway, Riley has lost two more teeth (the good way - got wobbly and fell out!) and here is some very blurry evidence:

Also, his hair was getting very shaggy - which bothers some members of the family (not me) a great deal, so when he said his hair was making him feel hot the other day and wanted a haircut, I had the clippers out within seconds. I love the before-and-after haircut shots - always such a striking difference. Riley always looks so much older right after a haircut.

This is from October of '07, all baby teeth and no giant holes! Notice the jaunty scar through his left eyebrow. That is how our coffeetable came to be known as The Evil Coffeetable of Death.