Developments

A very friendly and improbable cheery nurse called me last week to make arrangements for Caíthlyn's developmental test.
"How old are we?" she asked me in a voice that convinced me that this lady has free access to the medicine cabinet and is not afraid to use it! I refrained from giving the obvious answer ( "I don't know how old YOU are.......") and we made arrangements for 14.00 hrs on Friday the 10th of June.

Darren managed to get the afternoon off and so we all arrived at the Lovely Town Health Centre together. The nurse, Sandra, was actually quite lovely and had a great way of dealing with Caíthlyn. Caíthlyn kept close to us for the first 3 minutes or so and then just moved freely about the room.
Being forced in to any kind of position does not sit well with Little Miss so when there was an attempt to place her on the scales there were tears galore! But that was the only hitch. You all will be glad to learn that Little Miss is perfect in regards to weight and height. Sandra was very happy about everything but one thing.
She said that Caíthlyn should be putting at least two words together now.
Now, Little Miss KNOWS a hell of a lotta words. Really. But since her gnashers are making a bit of a late appearance, the actual speaking of the words is a bit slower to develop. She is more a sound kinda gall. "Meow" rather than "Cat", that kind of thing.
We are not worried in the slightest and are sure that before the year is over she will be talking our ears off! Can't wait! :-)

Also, she advised us to definitely stop the bottles. And seeing as this was the plan anyway, today marks the very last day of Caíthlyn's bottle. I personally wanted to stop the bottle earlier but was still a bit reluctant to let go of that little warm body in my arms. Now, the time has come...... The end of an era. Another chapter closed.

It will be a lot better for her teeth though (next stop: soother) and I am all for the good dental care as regular readers will know.
I think that just having the toothbrush in her mouth will not do the job. You HAVE to have a good brush around. Little Miss is not a fan of this, she will try to grab the brush herself and have a go. I have tried all kinds of approaches: Singing Songs (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus: "Caíthlyn's toothbrush goes up and down, up and down, up and down, Caíthlyn's toothbrush goes side to side, All through the tooowwwnn!!"),
Making her laugh and getting in there quick, Letting her hold it too and brushing her teeth "together"...... Sadly, none of these methods get's the job done properly. That just leaves the "Relentless Firm Grip tm".
I have to lay her across my lap, hold her flaying arms and legs and try to get it done as quick and thorough as possible. The cries she gives would make you think I was traumatizing the child for life. That some future shrink would be clucking disapprovingly whilst taking notes on my daughter's childhood toothbrush trauma's! The thing is though, that as soon as I sit her back up, she's all smiles again. Happy as Larry!
So whilst it really does break my heart to see the tears pop from her eyes, it would hurt her (and me) infinitely more to see her in the dentist chair with a mouth full of cavities. Toddlers and fillings are not something I want to see in our future.

Oh, the pictures came back. Auntie S. framed three of them for my birthday and they are lovely! Great big THANK YOU to Auntie S.!!!

I will do my very best to get them in softcopy so that I can give them the publication they deserve!

Have to love ye and leave ye!

Have a great day everyone!