I'm going to bed, and I hope my wisdom tooth explodes in the night

I've been taking codeine - codeine, to which I was addicted, which makes me sick - and paracetamol and ibuprofen and I still want to hit people.

There's nothing visibly wrong, but my head is throbbing as though it's swollen to the size of a London black taxi.

If I go to bed, I hope Rob is sound enough asleep not to be woken as I toss, turn, and whimper. Because if he wakes up, I am almost guaranteed to add whining to my repertoire.

Poor ole Rob. But at least he doesn't have wisdom teeth.

Here we go again

Back to the dentist, more antibiotics, I bet. I wonder how often "several times" is - that's how often this has to happen before they TAKE THE DAMN THING OUT.

Motherhood is...

... eating the burnt toast so that the children don't have to (though at weekends I make Rob do it).

... being told "Dud dirl" and kissed gently on the cheek while tucked up in bed. I'm not sure why; perhaps Emer was feeling very grown-up and responsible?

... being completely unable to see three-foot-tall children hiding behind their own hands in the middle of an empty room; "Sh! Huiet! MAMMY ME HIDING!!!"

Garden reclamation day

It's a lovely day for laundry - I've done the handwashing, even - and swinging on the swing and seeing on the saw and bouncing on the trampoline. And it's a lovely day for mowing the lawn, ish, and raking the winter's leaves off it, and finding all sorts of toys hidden in the long grass.

If this continues we'll have a usable garden by the end of the week - one people could come and sit in, even.

It's glorious weather.

Poor Linnea will be FORCED out into it shortly. She'd rather stay in the front room looking at books. Why she doesn't want to look at the outdoors is beyond me. But she has to come to the dentist with me - no choice there!

What The Dentist Said

"Oh dear," followed by "Is there any chance you're pregnant?"

So I had an X-ray and my unwise toothlet is visibly not fitting, now.

The root isn't properly open - apparently it's doing the wrong thing with the nerve, there inside my gum. And the tooth itself is trying to grow up out of my lower jawbone up into my upper jawbone, which it can't do. Meanwhile, it's damaging the adjacent tooth, inflaming the gum, enraging the general populace and annoying me.

Oh, and it hurts.

I have a week's antibiotic scrip, and some mouthwash, and OTC painkillers (and my sekrit stash of 30mg codeine phosphate), and in about six weeks I'll get a phonecall to set up an appointment for extraction. In a hospital.

I'll have to manage childcare; I hope it's straightforward. Though they are very well-behaved while I get my dentistry done, watching me have my wisdom tooth out is probably a mite traumatic for them.

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I've been a bit dazed all day, probably from the pain. It's easing off a little now, possibly due to antibiotics or mouthwash or something.

"Young mum!"

As my aching tooth, my over-thirsty four-year-old, my toddler and myself were crossing the pedestrian shopping street today, a man who was stopping passers-by waved his beer can at me.

"Young mum!" he cried, "have you ever been paintballing before?"

I said "No thank you," but thought of lots of other things I could have said if I could have been bothered, later. "I'm older than you," for a start. "I don't need to, I have children." "That beercan looks very unprofessional, aging bachelor."

Honestly, everyone else says "'Scuse me" before they start their pitch - what made him think "Young mum!" was a polite way to address anyone?

Perhaps he was drunk.

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Apart from that, we enjoyed today's sunshine. Emer and I spent time in the garden before the dentist appointment, and then we all walked around searching for a pharmacy, hampered by my being slightly crazed with pain so I couldn't really think of what the most efficient thing to do was. We found a Superdrug with no pharmacy counter, and then a Boots which did have one, and then made our way by degrees to Moondogs, failing to buy Linnea a new coat or jacket in a few places in the meanwhile. It probably wasn't the best day to try, to be honest.

At Moondogs we had coffee and cake - actually, the children had purple squash, which is about as stimulating - and then we walked home, gathered our wits and the birthday gift, and went to Iz's fifth birthday party. It was lovely and low-key and we had a lovely time. Linnea's will be in a hall this year but I was pleased to see that someone other than me has low-key food-and-games ideas.

I need to print off Linnea's party invitations and post them. And see if I can't do something labour-saving about a cake.

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I went out to dinner with a friend on Friday evening and left my phone at home. I must do that again.