Well, the good news is that A doesn’t have strep. I took her to the doctor today and the test was negative. The other good news is that the girls were very good at the dentist this morning. (It helps that the people who work there are AMAZING with kids, treated M&A incredibly well, and were extremely gentle. They had noted in A’s chart last time that she wasn’t so good with the teeth cleaning, so this time they took a lot of time to explain what every instrument was and how it worked. Plus the girls got manicures, Doodlebop stickers, rings and new toothbrushes.)

The bad news… M’s molars have an issue related to development before birth – the enamel didn’t fully form. She had a little surfacing done on one of them last year, and now it looks like the other three have the same problem. The dentist doesn’t want to do fillings at this young age (trauma!) so we’re just going to watch and be vigilant about sugar. A, meanwhile, needs to be better about brushing on the left side (which really means we have to be better about brushing on the left side).

Also… A completely, COMPLETELY freaked out after getting her throat culture. Now, I understand that it’s unpleasant, but I am not sure it merited ONE STRAIGHT HOUR of crying, screaming, and non-responsiveness. I could barely even hear what the pediatrician was saying to me, and she was one foot away from me. That’s how loud A was crying. It was like the old tantrum days. My god.

Also… M really lit into me several times today. After I attempted to help her out of the car this afternoon, not realizing she wanted to get out by herself, I got this: "You are NOT a good mommy. You are very mean. You are NOT NICE to me. I don’t ever want to see you again." Then tonight, I was leaving the house to go to the ballet with Buppie. She didn’t want me to go. She screamed at me, over and over, about how awful I was for leaving. Sometimes she just shrieked, "NO!" and grabbed me. It was very difficult. The good news is – I know that when she gets like this, 9 times out of 10 it’s because she’s hungry. Both of those times were mealtimes that she was a bit late for.

But here’s what almost erased all of that from memory. Late afternoon today, A fell asleep on the couch. Imogene took M out to play in the wading pool in the backyard while I stayed on the couch with A. I petted her leg and patted her back and just stayed with her while she slept. It wasn’t until I talked to Lisa o the phone that A woke up, and she woke up with a smile on her face, asking me all kinds of questions about what Lisa and I were talking about. It was a nice peaceful period with A and I really enjoyed it. After she woke up, I set up a tea party for Piggy and Bunny and put out some crackers with jelly for them, which A gobbled up.

She still has a low fever but is hopefully getting better. Also hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day!