Killing babies

We used to institutionalize babies with Down syndrome. Now we kill them.

An extra chromosome isn't awful by Beverly Beckham. Read it and cry.

Mikey sees the dentist

Saturday we went to the dentist to have four of Mikey's baby teeth pulled. Mikey has the same problem that Beth had when she was little... her aadult teeth came in behind her baby teeth and didn't push the baby teeth out. So Michel had gone to the Pediatrician and got a little valium to slow Mikey down before the big day. We gave the valium to Mikey about 30 minutes before the procedure. The valium had exactly zero effect! Mikey was bouncing around in the waiting room like a mad man, laughing and entertaining the staff. We got him into the room and I climbed into the chair first and then I wrapped up Mikey with my arms and legs. He squirmed a bit but I held him. The dentist shot him with some Novacaine and Mikey got loose and bumped the needle. My fault! This time I held him by the elbows instead of the wrists and really got him good. The four teeth were gone even before we knew it. Mikey no longer looks like a shark with multiple rows of teeth. We have two more teeth to remove and then we are all done.

Our pediatric dentist is absolutely wonderful. He came in on his day off to take care of Mikey so that Mikey wouldn't miss any school. We met him when Beth was little. We had taken her to a couple of dentists and she was terrified of them. One dentist told us, "I can't work with your child." We took Beth to see Dr. Charlie and she was crying like crazy when she went in. By the time she was done, he had her laughing and hugging him. He has an incredible way with kids that melts away all their fears and anxieties.

On the NJ Turnpike

This defines our luck.

Michel has a procedure

Michel had another medical procedure (the specifics of which will not be mentioned) and everything went great. As usual, as you can see from the picture, Michel was a trooper and went in to face the worst medical science could throw at her with a smile on her face!

Perfect Weather

November has been the perfect month so far. You will recall how miserable October was, but November has been great. The leaves have been turning but they are still mostly in the trees. This is a view from the front of my house looking west down my street.

It's lucky that the weather was so nice this past weekend because the new neighbors moved in. The house across the street has been vacant since January so we have been looking forward to having someone finally live there. They are a young couple, Melanie and Josh, with no children yet. Beth was hoping for a girl in the 8th grade but these things don't always work out. Of course, with any luck this does mean that Beth might find some baby sitting jobs in her future!

With such perfect weather, Mikey wanted to go for a drive so we hopped on the Parkway and drove down to Jones Beach. The nice thing about the Parkways on Long island is that they have a lot of trees planted along them. This time of the year it is especially pretty as the trees are changing color.

We drove along Ocean Parkway down by the beach. Amazingly, they are still charging to park your car so we didn't stop which was fine by Mikey. He just likes the drive and to listen to music. I took this picture of the world famous Jones Beach water tower, designed by Robert Moses and built in 1930. Here is a satellite image of the tower. The tower is where the roads intersect. The Jones Beach theater is just to the upper right in the satellite image.

Beth's Birthday

Thursday was Beth's 13th birthday. We now have a teenager around the house. Of course, Beth has been acting like a teenager for about 10 years but that is another story. Our friends over at downsyn.com were nice enough to wish Beth a happy birthday Beth got some DVDs (Degrassi Junior High and the third season of Monk) and a docking station/boom box combo for her iPod.

So now that I have a teenage daughter, the question I have for all those dads out there is how did you survive your daughter's teenage years. The thing is, that coming up rapidly will be a new interest for Beth, B-O-Y-S. And I know about teenage boys. I was one once and the only thing that teenage boys are interested in is teenage girls. So what advice do you have for me? How can I get through the next few years without killing anyone? Or having a stroke? All advice gladly accepted.