This would have everything to do with Laura’s previous post…
To the dentist we go…
Note the relaxed hand on the iPod
…to fill some more cavities, tra la la. Backtrack a bit: When we got Jon’s x-rays done for his upcoming orthodontics, the regular dentist informed us that Jon somehow managed to get FOUR cavities. 😯 So we booked two appointments this month to get them filled two at a time. (Guess I started a tradition last year: Somehow the holidays don’t seem complete for us unless there’s a big honkin’ dentist bill in January…)
We were dreading these appointments; we remember all too vividly Jon’s filling 1-1/2 years ago, which was a horrific experience and one we didn’t wish to repeat. The dentist seemed optimistic about being able to fill Jon’s tooth without needing gas or general anaesthesia; we were skeptical, but willing to try it once more (Jon being that much older).
As it turned out, Jon made it through the filling with flying colours. He wasn’t too pleased about parts (especially the needles, rubber dental dam, clamp to keep his mouth wide); but fortified with a tape of Dora on the dentist’s TV system, and good tunes on his iPod, he kept pretty still and calm. It wasn’t until the procedure was over that he started to cry—more because of frustration because his frozen mouth felt so peculiar.
Then the problem hit us: How were we to prevent Jon from chewing his frozen lip, cheek and tongue? Gauze stuffed in his cheek just got shoved out by his tongue. Ditto any other foreign objects. It was compulsive; he just couldn’t stop himself from doing this. We could see some blood already from his lip and we weren’t even home yet. The solution was for one or the other of us to put our finger in his mouth between his teeth (he wasn’t chewing hard; it was more sensory exploration). It worked very well against his tongue-pushing. However, it meant that we had to keep a finger in Jon’s mouth for over an hour!
Despite our precautions he did manage to get a bit of a swollen lip from chomping it a couple of times. But he’ll be just fine in a day or so, which is a damn sight better than the week it took him to recover 1-1/2 years ago.
Oh, and as for the second cavity we were supposed to get filled today? Turned out it was just a shadow on the x-ray from a chip off the tooth. Let’s hope next week’s cavities are as easy to deal with!
Playthings for cephalopods
I have a hard enough time finding a suitable toy for Jon; how about getting one for an octopus?
My trip
The three of us on the Test Track ride, Jon’s centre with his head down. It’s not a fair picture, because at that moment you’ve been told that it’s a barrier test and instead of braking your car accelerates at the wall (which turns out to be a pair of doors which fly open and you head outside at high speed). Jon’s the only sane one in the picture.
[In the past few months, some people have been noticing changes in Jon’s posts. A few people—I won’t mention any names— *coughKernercough* have suggested that Laura and I might be polishing. Nuh-uh. But something is going on.
Back in September, Jon’s teacher began to teach him composition and editing. Glaring editorial concerns are now being massaged in a second draft, and sometimes that is what we’re posting. Moreover, Jon is absorbing the lessons, so the level of his pieces is changing too. So here, I presented both the first draft, entirely done by Jon, and the second and final draft, worked on by him and his teacher. —P]
I went in a taxi to go to the airport. Next I went on an airplane. I was flying to Florida. I was watching the iPod touch on the plane. On the iPod touch there was some wall-e trailers And Wonder Pets episodes. The episodes I saw was save the swan. The airplace landed after we flew to Florida. I was leaving Toronto on Saturday January 5/08. In Florida I went to Disney World. I was going to Epcot. I went on a lot of rides. The rides I went on were Finding Nemo, Soarin’, and Test Track. I enjoyed the rides. I was going back to the hotel to see the Local on the 8s on the Wether Channel. Then it was time to go back to Toronto. On the plane I got sick. I got the flu. I’m feeling better now.
Jon
My Trip to Disney World
On December 29/07 my family and I went in a taxi to go to the airport. We went on an airplane. We were flying to Florida. I watched the iPod touch on the plane. On the iPod touch there wer some wall-e trailers and Wonder Pets episodes. The episode I saw was Save the Swan. We were on the airplane for three hours. Then we went to the hotel and we unpacked. Next we went to Disney World and went to Epcot. I went on lots of rides. The rides I went on were Finding Nemo, Soarin’, and Test Track. I enjoyed all the rides. Then we went back to the hotel to see the Local on the 8s on the Weather Channel. I had a lot of fun. Then it was time to go back to Toronto. On the plane I got sick. I got the flu. I’m feeling better now.
Jon
On the topic of travel…
A little Flash game to see how well you know the world. I think my brothers- and sisters-in-law will do extremely well at this.
The Travel IQ Challenge (sorry, link is dead.)
My first final game tally was 267070, crashing and burning on Level 8. How’d you do?
Team Cookie 2008
Because of the cold weather in Florida we never got to wear our specially-designed Team Cookie t-shirts until the last day—and then Jon was too sick to do anything with the family, so we never got any group pics of all of us wearing the shirts. So in lieu of that, here’s a montage of all the shirt-front graphics, as well as our team logo.
Return to Disney
After the success of the original mission two years ago, Grandpa and Grandma once again assembled Team Cookie in Florida for an assault on Walt Disney World Resort. Early on, we even got a break, due to (we think) a convention cancellation, we were upgraded from the budget hotels to the moderate-level Coronado Springs resort.
Our section of the resort had a lovely cactus-strewn desert theme.
We had a great time, despite some obstacles.
It was a little colder than the Mexican theme suggests.
The weather was cold: the temperature dropped below freezing two nights in a row and the daytime temperatures most days didn’t make it to 10°C, with a constant cold wind. We had packed warm clothes, but when you’re confined to a wheelchair, not moving much, in outdoor lineups, the warm clothes just don’t do the job.
Mist on the water in front of the main resort building, which, as David Barker says, looks like a Taco Bell.
The parks were hugely crowded. Our pet theory is that the resorts were fully booked and there was nowhere else to go—not the pool, nor any other outdoor distraction they fill their resorts with. So you might as well go to the park.
Jon got the flu (it was going around the parks), and was more or less bed-ridden for two of our days there, poor guy.
Jon semi-comatose with fever by the pool on our last day—our warmest day there (note long pants). At least he got to go on the pool waterslide the first day there.
There were some major high points too:
Cirque de Soleil’s La Nouba: it’s a permanent show at Downtown Disney, in a huge building shaped like a circus tent. A wonderous show, featuring some of incredibly beautiful moments. (Here’s the trailer from their site (but it can’t capture the subtlety).) Grandma and Auntie Pam hung out with Jon at the hotel while we went.
Tokyo Dining: A Japanese restaurant at Epcot run by the Mitsukoshi Corporation of Japan. Good sushi, excellent service, and despite being fairly new to enjoying sushi, the place Jon seemed most comfortable in during our entire stay. Or maybe he just liked the way the sushi kitchen changed colour…
Laura’s return to the professional golf circuit: Okay, I exaggerate. But after 30 years of avoiding golf, Laura was persuaded to join Patti, David and I for a game of pitch and putt while we stayed at Mom and Dad’s place. Laura’s disdain for golf hides the fact that she has solid fundamentals. We played nine holes; on the last one, Laura landed her tee shot on the green while no one else even got near it.
Expedition Everest: Auntie Pam offered to chat with Jon while we braved the line and the ride. Turns out we got assigned the front car of the tea train to hell. And got swiped at first by the Yeti.
Jon’s delight with the Finding Nemo ride, especially the entrance: The entrance features a few rocks with the title, a wave generator that occasionally splashes visitors and three animatronic Finding Nemo seagulls, sporadically hollering the only thing they ever say. See for yourself.
Thanks for a wonderful vacation, Grandma and Grandpa!
Jon on his very favourite ride, the Disney shuttle bus!
