Ah yes! Monday 17th December 🙂 Dentist – new one, but only for check-ups and only K, J and me (Bob and L having already been – which reminds me – is it normal for NHS dentist to say that scale and polish are needed but must be booked with the hygienist as a private appointment? I thought s and p formed part of the check-up and should be included in NHS price for basic treatment? Is our new dentist a bit dodgy?). All well, except that one of my fillings may be a bit loose and X-ray will show if it needs replacing. They are currently white (on NHS because preventative and a nice dentist at the time 😉 ) but apparently replacement will have to be amalgam if NHS or private if white – if I were pg it might make a difference but BF doesn’t 🙁
Tuesday 18th was a great treat 😀 Our friends Rebecca and J from parents and tots many moons ago (they were one of our first families) are back in the UK from the US and they came to see us! Also little R, who is more young lady now than baby 🙂 We had a lovely day doing nothing much, with lunch rescued by another friend, Emma, who popped in on her way home from town with her DS2 and some bread and cheese and stayed to chat and play a bit (well, we chatted and the children played 😉 ). There was much eating of chocolate spread :frog: It was strange how little seemed to have changed, except that the children are all bigger, and it seems really odd now to think that it could be months before we see each other again. Better start saving up for air tickets…
Wed 19th was a Latin etc day, with bread, mince pie and jam tart making in the kitchen and Helen Haricot doing beautiful wreaths with the children using greenery and ribbons. The annexe was freezing though – must see if we can get it a bit warmer next time!
Thursday was P&T as usual and then a church meeting in the evening, which Bob managed to get to, about work in/with the community and where we are heading – very positive it seems, although our biggest problem is lack of people in a position to do much: those who are able-bodied enough are either working full-time, already volunteered out or busy looking after family.
On Friday the boys were booked into an all-day sports camp, which they loved! Meanwhile L, A and I did a bit of Christmas shopping 🙂 On Saturday the boys had sports again and this time Bob took them and had a day in town himself while A, L and I pottered at home.
Christmas was, well, Christmas 😀 We went to Bob’s sister’s on Christmas Eve and had a lovely day there, but also caught a nasty fluey bug… Christmas Day was quiet and at home, apart from church, and Bob has blogged it already. We took our time over present-opening – a few at Christmas and then the rest at times of need lol, so they lasted into the new year! Just a few wibbles from J over lack of DSLite – I think this was exacerbated by hm feeling guilty for wanting something he knew we couldn’t afford, poor sausage! Will be keeping an eye out for second-hand ones we might be able to manage for his birthday, but not overly hopeful 🙁 Actually, I feel slightly ambivalent about them anyway – I can see lots of scope for addiction and it’s hard enough to get his head out of books already without adding anything else 😆
On Boxing Day we went to see my aunt and had a lovely family day there, then came back because J had holiday orchestra for the rest of the week. This meant that toddlers was on on Thursday, although there were very few of us there and most of the time was spent clearing out the cupboards and thinking about how to make it easier to run and delegate. J did Gamelan, 7+ choir and Music Games and loved it all! That pretty much took out the week between Christmas and New Year, especially when combined with K managing to catch his cousin’s ‘flu’ and being really quite ill, and then passing it on to A so she was ill too 🙁
Fortunately residual germs didn’t put Rebecca, Benedict, J and R off from coming over to celebrate new year with us, which was lovely and reminiscent of last year, when we spent new year’s eve with them (not in the US though!) except that they stayed over so we got to spend even more time with them 🙂 Then New Year’s day was my birthday and we had a few friends over to celebrate, including both sets of A’s godparents (but at different times) and did lots of baking, lots of chatting and lots of eating 😉
Marcus and I are NHS and got 1 check up and 1 hygienist appointment per year on NHS rates (will have to check with M what they are as he does the paying). Then, because I’ve been trying to get our teeth cleaner, last year I booked us private hygienist appointment 6 months later for a stain removing session. Apparently we then need another check up (but NHS). Maybe you need a check up before hygienist appointment or maybe the rationale is that if you feel you need 6 monthly hygienist appoinments then maybe you need 6 monthly dental checks.
As a child, Chloe gets 6 monthly dental checks, no hygienist. Becs uses the same dentist and her family (2 adults 3 children) are all on annual checks. Don’t know whether they have better teeth than us or if because of me booking the private hygienist appointment we have somehow bumped into a more frequent check band.
it’s up to the individual dentist whether you get your cleaning done on the NHS as it’s a seperate thing from the actual check up (which is just your basic prod and poke about) Mine does it all in one fee for me which is only about £2 more than the awful NHS one I used to go to, he doesn’t do Aprilia’s as she hates the feeling of the polishing thingie but he would if she would let him. Ours wouldn’t treat me on the NHS when pg though, the only NHS work he does is for the kids of his paying punters.
According to all the official things I have found, including NHS poster at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_073216 a scale and polish should be included if necessary – so either Bob doesn’t need one and it should not have been mentioned or he does and it should have been offered as part of his check-up. It makes me cross – but NHS dentists are not easy to find and with 4 children who will be free on NHS I think it’s worth staying there rather than going private just now.
Our last dentist had us on annual check-ups; this one says six-monthly.
Lots of private dentists take your kids on the NHS, as t-bird says hers does. Ours does, and I wouldn’t want to go back to the NHS random dentists now. Fine if you are lucky enough to find a good one, but otherwise – nope, I’ll suck it up and pay. Must be due again soon actually …