Remember: SOFT only

I probably won't make many posts pertaining to dentistry, but I think this is an important one.  Growing up a dentist's daughter and becoming one myself, this was something I assumed for many years that everyone knew, but I have learned I was wrong to make that assumption.

Only buy soft (or extra-soft) bristled toothbrushes :)

I'm not sure why the toothbrush manufacturers even make ones with harder bristles than that, unless they intend to sell them on the cleaning aisle.

My patients who use medium or hard have done so most of their life and are difficult to convince on this one, but once I explain it, they usually understand.  They feel like the softer ones don't get their teeth clean enough.  In actuality, harder bristled toothbrushes can strip your gums back from your teeth as well as damage the enamel.  Both of those effects lead to tooth sensitivity because they expose more of dentin - the part of your tooth that isn't insulated from cold.  Think of it as gently massaging your teeth clean instead of scrubbing them.  Sooooo... the moral of the story is SOFT ONLY - save the scrubbing for your dishes, floors, etc.

Parker thinks he has "evidence" that he's the favorite

     Parker is in the 6th grade and is working on his autobiography for school.  The chapters on birth to age 5 are due on October 10th.  So...yesterday, I pulled out his baby book to get the information from that first year.  The detail in the book from during my pregnancy is quite all encompassing.  I was actually shocked when I found out I was pregnant since I was told that would be a near impossibility for me by doctors.  The baby book has the date written down I took the 3 pregnancy tests, where I took them, and even this little keepsake thing with the 2 lines on it.  Parker was the first baby in either family in something like 20 years.  The joy ushering him into the world was immeasurable.  I have a paper with his first 36 words written down in order as well as his abbreviations for words and the phonetic spelling for how he said them, etc.  I marked down the date he got each of his teeth.  The information is surprisingly complete up until about the time his brother arrived 18 months later...
     Our boys are each 18 months apart.  Parker turned 3 years old 9 days before the youngest, Price, was born and Payton is perfectly placed in the middle. (Not a planned thing - God's plan as assisted by nursing babies.)  Parker was pretty much potty trained right up until Price arrived - then we had 3 in diapers and 3 with pacifiers.  I can remember people looking at us like we were crazy.  Our middle son, Payton, was quite a challenge (now he's the easy one).  I don't think he stopped screaming for the first 3 years of his life - he had colic which later transitioned to just plain impatience.  When the youngest was born, he spent 10 days in ICU and didn't get to come home from the hospital until 3 days before Christmas.  Mom stayed with me at Ronald McDonald House so we could be with him and Grady and his mom held down the fort back home with the other 2 babies.  All of this is background information to explain that...THE OTHER 2 DON'T HAVE MUCH OF A BABY BOOK.  In fact, I'm not sure Price has one at all...I am going to have to do some searching.
     They aren't too happy about this realization.  Parker is using it as evidence that he is the favorite, most loved child.  There aren't quite as many pictures of the younger 2 either.  Some of that has to do with the transition from film cameras to digital cameras and some of it has to do with being too busy chasing around a toddler (or 2) and caring for an infant.  I am thinking about when Payton and Price get to 6th grade how much harder it will be to write their autobiographies without the detailed chronology of their first year.  I did keep a very detailed Mommy calendar back in those days with the entire family's information in it, but I don't think they will look at it quite the same.  They want me to be able to hand something over to them and say, "This is yours and it's all about you."
     As bad as I may feel, I got to thinking about how hard it must be for a child to write that autobiography who either doesn't have a Mom who remembers anything or didn't write anything down or for a child who maybe doesn't have anyone in their life at all from those first years.  I guess that child just has to make it all up?  I think they have to write 8 pages on those first 5 years.  Thinking about that just breaks my heart.  Maybe I'm not so bad, afterall...

Update 10/11/11:  turns out that I DO have baby books for all 3!  I'm having a little trouble finding all of the calendars that truly summarize day to day life, but THEY ALL AT LEAST HAVE A BABY BOOK!  YAY!!!