Raising Eli & Zachary + a little Princess

Ok, let me start off by saying that I have offiicially fired Dr. Miller, child dentist located at:
285 Sills Rd, East Patchogue, NY 11772-4856.

Why might you ask? Because although he might have 30 years of experience with being a dentist, he clearly has been doing it too long. Today was Eli’s second attempt to get a bad cavity filled, the first I did not attend, instead Jodi took him and they could not get the mask on his face. Dr. Miller, fearing that Eli would have a bad experience and “fear” dentists made the decision to abort the visit. He believed at the time, that putting off the cavity filling was better than letting the cavity get worse, a decision I didn’t support then and questioned.

This time, Eli was in the waiting room, and Dr. Miller instantly declared that it was never going to happen. His 30+ years of experience told him that Eli would never let the procedure take place. I told Dr. Miller that he needed to try. Eli took to the gas mask with ease this time, and as Dr. Miller was trying to explain to me his fundamental beliefs in dentistry, which I couldnt give a shit about, he ignored Eli and stopped communicating with him. He told Eli all of a sudden that he was going to put some cream next to his tooth and proceeded to use his fingers to force Eli’s mouth wider which Eli was not anticipating. Too wide if you ask me and Eli started to whimper and cry. Immediately Dr. Miller called off the proceedure and said, I told you it was never going to happen.

In the first episode, Dr. Miller took away the mask Eli was holding which set Eli off, he wanted to hold it and it made him comfortable. Anyone with any experience would know to not disturb or rip away something that was making him feel comfortable in fear of a bad reaction. For someone who claims to be a child psychologist he has a lot to learn. In this second episode, he should have said, Eli, I need to to be brave, be very still so I can touch your tooth. I believe that if he would have approached the proceedure with a positive attitude and coached Eli through the filling of the cavity all would have been fine. But I guess it is easier to charge someones insurance company again for an office visit knowing they can just try it again in two weeks.

After calling off the filling, he offered to knock Eli out, and do all the work at one time (at a cost of $1500). How convenient that such a non-insurance covered proccedure be pushed after failing to try the regular way.

I ask you, how do you think a child is going to respond to a dentist who puts a needle in his arm at a visit? Do you think that Eli is going to sit down and let you stick a needle in his arm without crying? Maybe the idea is get the needle in him, charge me $1500 and then say, sorry your kid cried again so we are calling it off.

I can’t support Dr. Miller in his approach with my son. He might be great with regular kids, but Eli being PDD NOS makes him a special case. He does not understand how to take the extra step to comfort a child and has no patience.

Today was a horrible experience, I hope that if you are a parent and you are doing research on Dr. Miller on Sills Road in Medford that you consider using another dentist. For a guy with such a good reputation I have to say that in five office visits, the first two just to get Eli Comfortable I have wasted more money and time than acceptable. With two full dental insurance plans I have already used all my visits for six months, which means now that I am switching to someone new I have to pay everything out of pocket.

Oh, and if all of this does not convince you, I leave you with this. Dr. Miller said, come back in two weeks and we will continue to keep the tooth from decaying like we have been. My answer to him was simple, in all of these visits you have not actually done any treatment to the tooth. So how are you preventing the further decay. He answered, “By looking at it”.

The miracle dentist who can stop decay by looking at the tooth…wow…I am inspired. Time to retire Dr. Miller.

Update: I was putting Eli down for a nap, he asked me, why did Dr. Miller hurt me? I asked how and Eli’s response, he pulled right here really hard (and showed me him hooking his lower lip and yanking it down. I asked Eli if that is why he cried and he said yes. Suddenly it all makes more sense.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Nothing is worse for a dad and son then bad weather. Let’s face it, no man in his right mind wants to go to the mall to spend the day, and when the weather is not cooperating there isn’t much fun in playing outside. So what is a dad and son to do? Arts and Crafts? Color Books? Watch television? No way! How about some indoor bed hockey!

Eli and I love to play this game where we take a squishy foam ball and play hockey in the bed, get on opposite sides of the bed, and put the ball in the middle. On the word go, we dive towards the ball, knocking it around the bed, fighting to see who can get it. Of course I let him win all the time, but he is a good sport about it. He “accidentally” drops the ball a few times to give me a chance and to make it fun. The result. A lot of spent energy, a bunch of laughing and some exercise.

Some other indoor activities we engage in are puzzle building, making towns out of blocks and hide and go seek. Unfortunately, Eli hides in the same spot all of the time and then gets frustrated if I hide well. Although it is a fun time when I hide well and know he is coming so I can jump out and yell BOO!

The most important part of any of these activities and any other you have in your arsenal is that they keep the kids away from the television which nowadays is one of my biggest battles. If all else fails, a good game of Caraboo, Chutes and Ladders, Hi-Ho Cheerio are all great store purchased games.

(1 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)

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For the last 20+ days, minus two in between we have been having these massive electrical storms in the middle of the night. They usually start around 1am and last until 4, waking everyone in the house, all except Eli. The crackle and crashing booms of the lightning strikes are so loud that the house shakes and the windows rattle.

Last year, our Mosquito catcher, the one hooked up to a propane tank was struck during one of these storms. Amazingly enough, all that died that day was the mosquito catcher, the lawn and a tree. If I still had the pictures of the tracks of lightning that etched four inches deep into the ground from the tree line to the mosquito catcher you would be amazed. Lightning, well is destructive.

So how does Eli sleep through these storms? Each time a storm hits I go into his room, either sit in the rocking chair and watch him or just make sure his sleeping and covered. He just snores softly on like nothing is going on. My dog on the other hand starts to pant, jumps into the bed and tries to bury herself into your body. Considering she is a 110 pounds Bernese Mountain Dog that can be a very uncomfortable situation.

I kind of wish Eli would wake up sometimes. I love electrical storms and really enjoy watching the lightning dance across the sky. I want to share counting the seconds between the flash and the boom. I never want him to fear it and want it to be something cool that we do together. Then again, nothing beats watching him sleep innocently with dreams of his own flashing behind his eyes.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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