Dental musings

Well, we all went to the dentist, and, well, Daan still has perfect teeth. Douwe has a cavity in one of his molars. It is to be filled a week from Monday. His father will be taking him for the appointment as he has to have something done to his teeth, too.

So I am once more faced with the conundrum of the novacain, as the assistant tells me they let the child decide whether he wants any. This was mentioned in an aside as the dentist spent much of his time trying to convince me that putting a filling in a baby tooth was worth the trouble. I don't know why he was trying to convince me, I mean it will be a couple of years before his molars come out if I recall correctly. No sense in letting his teeth rot out in the mean time. Oh, yes, and reassuring me that the filling won't be amalgam.

Well, my mouth is full of mercury and so are both my parents' mouths and we haven't gone mad or...er, probably haven't gone mad for any reason related to the teeth anyway. But okay, I don't mind white fillings either.

The "let the child decide" policy appears to be the outside edge of liberality from a dentit around here.

Well, I chose this dentist because all the mommies are nuts about him. But on the other hand, what do they know, they probably have people go into their mouths with a Black & Decker without anasethetic also. Maybe there's a local gene for high pain tolerance, I dunno. They all look at me and say something like "Well, it's not like getting a shot or anything,". Like a shot is really bad but a filling,well, that's just a walk in the park.

Did I move to Holland or to Looking Glass Land?

Footie

There has been much discussion about team sport and individual sport and extracurricular activities around here just lately. I have maintained right along that until the boys are old enough to pick a sport and continue to want to do it for more than, oh, ten minutes, I will be happy to oblige and not until then.

Dearly Beloved, however, has taken matters into his own hands and has signed up both boys for football, er, soccer.

He did not of course ask any trivial questions while doing so, such as, When is practice or How competitive a team is this exactly or When are the games or Do they know anyone on this team. He was not even really clear on What's the age range for each team. He did ask What does it cost, he hasn't lost his passport just yet, but was not at all clear about whether signing up two at once made any difference in terms of the cost.

I don't expect the kids will care, they will just get to go kick the ball around twice a week and will have a good time, I have no doubt. But I do note certain, er, gender differences in approach.

Goody goody gumdrops

Ash Wednesday in the south of Holland is marked by a roaring sound. It is the sound of the industrial strength leaf blowers and street sweeping machines which move out in force to clean up all that confetti from the Carnaval parades.

Well, and all the plastic cups everybody left all over. This year there was much talk of a resurgence of Carnaval, but I really think it was the result of the relatively pleasant weather we have been having. It's a lot more fun to go out and carouse when you don't have to dress up as the Michelin Man to prevent frostbite.

I have deemed Douwe old enough to give Lent a whirl this year, despite the fact that he hasn't had first communion yet, and Daan is sort of playing along. So far they like it very much. This is of course because they think it's a game.

I ran across this poem on the internet and it became the game:
Red is for the blood He gave.
Green is for the palm's cool shade.
Yellow is for the sun so bright.
Black is for the peace of night.
Orange is for prayer at twilight.
White is for the grace He gave.
Purple is for His hour of sorrow.
Pink is for our new tomorrow.

Here's how the game goes: Each of them has a jar. They get a gumdrop for what they do, each time I catch them doing it. Color coded and all. (This game is supposed ot be played with jelly beans. But a thorough scouring of local shops resulted in no jellybeans. So gumdrops it became).

Like this: Red gumdrops are for giving up something you want. Green ones are for helping out cheerfully. Yellow is for kindness to others. Black are for going to bed without fighting about it. * Orange gum drops are for prayers or reading the Bible. Purple you get for apologizing for doing something wrong. Pink you get for forgiving somebody else.

White gumdrops cannot be earned, as grace cannot be earned; they just appear in your jar.

I had planned to let them eat the candy at Easter (or maybe laetare sunday**), but Oma intervened and said that when she was young, they weren't allowed to have candy during Lent but instead they had to save up any sweets they got during the week and were allowed to eat them on Sundays. And, okay, forty days is a long payoff time to maintain a system of bribes, er, a learning system of this kind. So we settled on Sunday.

I expect it will wear off. But I certainly am hip-deep in offers to set the table, carry my groceries, and empty the dishwasher. (Douwe likes yellow gumdrops, what can I tell you). Daan cleaned their room two nights in a row. (He likes green ones). So I think I will just enjoy it while it lasts. Hey, maybe I can get them really confused about exactly when Lent ends and...nah, then I'd have to go to confession again, wouldn't I?

Daan has put together Carnaval and Ash Wednesday Mass in a sort of peculiar way. I bought him a cowboy hat today as he has been invited to a cowboy birthday party next week. That, it turns out, is the only costume they do not have. So I got him a hat and he explained to me most earnestly that he couldn't wear it. Because for Carnaval you dress up every day and then you go to church and the priest paints your face and then you can't dress up after that any more until next Carnaval.

Well, there certainly is nothing subtle about the marking with ashes around here; they just about cover your whole forehead with that cross. So I understand his confusion.

*Okay, that may not be a real virtue. But it's certainly restful for somebody. *ahem* Oh, dear, do I have to confess to being craven?.

** This is the fourth Sunday in Lent, it means "joyful Sunday" or "mothering Sunday" and is a day of reprive from Lent.

So, is the Archbishop of Canterbury Catholic?

Well, not yet. Though much ink has been devoted to the notion, it appears that reports that the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches will move from communion to unity are somewhat exagerated. A 42 page report has been generated which emphasizes the similarities between the faiths; and it has finally been spoken aloud that, if Anglicans are to have a pope, it will be the pope in Rome. Well, okay, John Paul II said the same thign some years ago. But Popes are always suggesting that they would be an excellent "sign and focus of unity", aren't they? I mean, last time I checked, official doctrine was that everybody baptised is really a catholic only some of them have soem very unusual theological notions.

Now it has been said aloud by an Anglican, too.

However, no official word is out from either Rome or Canterbury on the report. However, it does appear that -- at the very least -- Catholics are to start praying for the Archbishop of Canterbury during Mass and Anglicans are to start praying for the Pope in Rome. Which is a nice start.

Someone may have to explain to a number of Catholics what an Anglican is, exactly. I was surprised to discover that really very few people here have any idea. The Anglican presence in Holland is small.

However, it's likely to be pushed off the front pages of the Faith and Values section of the AJC by news that the bishops of the Anglican communion who are meeting this week have given the US Episcopal church 7 months to stop blessing gay marriages or get out.

Okay, they don't say get out. They say “This has consequences for the full participation of the church in the life of the communion.” Which sounds a lot like "or get out" to me.

Healing a schism on one side, opening one up on the other. Here I thought Anglicans were the "Frozen Chosen" but evidently things are getting right warmish in Tanzinia where the meeting is being held.

More parade pictures

This is really for my mother, the rest of you who are not addicted to parades may just want to scroll on down to the next posts.



But my mom really does love a parade. Maybe next year I will have the presence of mind to add a sound track.

More pictures

These are the official Carnaval costumes, though over the last three days there have been quite some costme changes.

Breaking Silence

Well, I suppose if there is any time to break a long silence it would be with Carnaval. If Carnaval is anything, it is loud. The kidlets decided to "go do Carnaval" tonight after dinner, so everybody got dressed up and off we went. I think Paul thought he was going to get to have a lovely evening in a pub. However, we took two steps into the door and both kids clapped their hands over their ears and went back outside. Carnaval indoors means VERY LOUD OOMPAH MUSIC.


So they ran about in the darkness in their Carnaval costumes -- Eldest as a magician and Youngest as Batman -- and played tag in the church square with all the other kids who couldn't take the noise.


Yesterday was the grownup's parade, which I watched mostly from the upstairs window. Well, it does come right beside the house. The kids and Paul and Nel stayed outside long enough to use up most of the confetti we bought and then came in too.


Here it is:

Well, there is more of it of course, about 42 more floats to be exact. We have a very nice turnout every year for the Carnaval parade.

Here is one of the merry onlookers:

And we had a good turnout for the kids' school carnaval parade on Friday also:

Eldest missed the school parade and party as he was still recovering from a week long bout of first the flu and then an ear infection. By Sunday he was up and around again and today he is pretty much his usual self.

If I get up the nerve to take them to the traditional bonfire at midnight tomorrow night which officially ends Carnaval and is the signal to quit partying and get ready for Lent, I will let you know. I am not sure either of them can stay awake until midnight -- and am even less sure that I can, as I have had the flu the whole week also. But I might.