the eyebrow combover (and a very sore tooth)

 let's start with the most important business: yesterday gd and i woke up in a really bad place, the therapist wasn't responding, and we felt that it was absolutely wrong of us not to say anything.

so we said something. we said a few things. and then i took mr smear to school. it was a bad feeling morning, but nobody was angry, just upset.

when i got home and had had some time to think, i proposed something to gd and - unlike the last time i proposed the exact same thing - she agreed. and, in my opinion, did something very impressive at the same time which it isn't really my business to go into (let's just say she "levelled up").

we agreed to "flip the script", and - not as a punishment - make screen time a reward instead of making lack of screen time a punishment. no good behavior, no chores, no screens. and then, after we'd planned for me to be available to explain the new situation to him after school, we realized that i had my emergency dental appointment at that time, so gd had to put her big girl panties on and take care of it alone.

...

my work day was pretty relaxed. i skipped early to get my filling sorted out, and ended up getting there a few minutes late. the procedure itself? not fun. the anesthetic administration was surprisingly comfortable, but everything else was not and at one point i felt stabbing pains on the tip of my tongue and under it. then, when she was done, i bit the plate and was certain that the filling wasn't fitting correctly, but when i told the dentist she assured me that it was just an effect of the anesthetic and that it was definitely fine.

the whole way home my tooth and gum hurt, and i was sure by the time i got in that i'd managed to damage the new filling. then i ate something (she'd told me i didn't need to wait), and immediately regretted it. then i googled new filling aftercare and regretting it even more.

...

i don't know how gd broke the news to mr smear, i'm not sure she does either, but whatever she told him she absolutely nailed it. by the time i got home he'd helped her with some chores, having had a reasonably good day at school, and had already earned himself an hour. after that - and with no reward on the line - he then volunteered to help gd in the kitchen with dinner!

...

we all went to bed early last night. i managed to sleep, to the sole credit of my gum guard. i had bizarre dreams about vampires.

today:

my mouth still felt wrong. i got mr smear to school in good spirits, and had a bit of a morning - my tooth was griefing me, and i wasn't operating at 100%. the workday began alright, but at lunchtime i joined one of my coworkers and had a bite to eat, and the pain was excruciating! as soon as it calmed down i called the dentists office again, i tried to get some work done but i literally couldn't see straight.

the therapist called me back, she questioned me in a way that made me kinda angry but she also said some things about mr smear's situation that really helped me to de-stress (in conjunction with yesterday's successes). we're going to see her tomorrow morning for more guidance.

then i left for an hour or two (it was supposed to be an hour, ended up being two) and met up with gd to go for an initial consultation with public health services. form filling nightmare. anyway, we sat with a therapist for an hour and threw a whole lot of our life stories at the poor guy, then i returned to the office for an hour or so which included a good one-on-one with my boss.

then i rushed off to the clinic for an emergency dental appointment. i had to wait a while, and i was a bit worried because the dentist on duty seemed a mite twitchy and irritable. fortunately, within a couple of minutes he'd assessed the filling and fixed it (i was totally right, that's two for two in two weeks), and confirmed that what the dentist told me yesterday about it taking a month to settle was correct. also, that i shouldn't avoid eating on the sore side. also, that my gum is properly wounded after yesterday's shenanigans.

good grief.

anyway, i had a catch-up chat with gd, then with my mother, then i did a quick emergency grocery run and came home. we've just (a little while ago) managed to get mr smear to bed after a welcome and pleasantly quick and proper toothbrush and shower experience, and i'm now trying to decide if i have the energy to execute on a great idea i had yesterday morning while talking to a colleague about the trouble with regular expressions.

...

oh! i keep forgetting. i had a revelation a few days ago, and it's a weird one: a while back i started trimming my eyebrows with a beard trimmer (not too short, just less shaggy), and i've been bothered a bit by the fact that some of my eyebrows haven't grown back properly (both eyebrows are symmetrical). the other day gd pointed out that the patches are bald spots. the revelation: that they've always been bald spots, but that my extra-long and shaggy eyebrow hairs were effectively serving as a natural combover.

so, yeah. eyebrow combover. it's a thing.