No sleep makes Kara cranky

I learned two key lessons yesterday.

1. My kid is not one of those "cooperative" toddlers I read about on other blogs.

Mommy, those bloggers are liars.

2. Complaining isn't always a waste of time.

Faith had her first dentist visit yesterday and while she did better than I thought she would, it still wasn't good enough for her to actually get examined. Faith normally FREAKS out at the doctor and I've gotten a pretty thick skin about it. If she needs something done, well then she's going to be held down even if she's kicking and screaming. I can't imagine taking her to the doctor and having him say "Well, she is crying a little so I'm just going to look at her from across the room and provide you with no information. Don't worry, I'll still charge you for this."

I can brush my teeth at home, why are we here?

Faith was going to get a fluoride treatment (we don't have it in the water here), but the dentist was hesitant to push past her crying. I told him that she was only at a 2 of the Faith Freak-Out Scale, but he still decided to end the appointment then.

Oh, I didn't realize that I was in charge here. 

The whole thing was basically pointless because the dentist couldn't even answer my question of "Does she have all of her baby teeth now?" He tried to be slick and say "They aren't normally done with that until 36 months" but I pushed it and he admitted that he couldn't actually say for sure because he didn't get to look in her mouth. Also, 36 months? Most people call that 3 years old, why try to be all fancy with the months?

Fine, right? No one expects their toddler's first appointment to be a total success. Too bad they tried to charge me for the full examination.

Man, now I have to deal with a pissed off Mommy all day. Thanks a lot.

My husband and I have dental insurance, but the insurance actually advised us to NOT add Faith yet because it costs more to add her than it would to just pay out of pocket for her first few appointments. I was prepared to pay $200 since that was the quoted price when I called to make the appointment  but I assumed we wouldn't be charged if they couldn't actually do the exam.

When we were leaving, I paid the bill ($160) because both kids were crying and I just needed to leave, but I called back when I got home to discuss dropping the exam charge. Turns out they can still charge $80 for the dentist brushing her teeth with a normal toothbrush. That part about the brushing that chapped my ass was that they used her free toothbrush for that. For $80, send us home with a toothbrush still in the packaging, right?

Anyway, the lesson here is that I turn into (more of) a cheap bastard when I don't have insurance and calling to complain can get you a partial refund. We won't be going back to that dentist because billing issues aside, the dentist just didn't seem to be good with kids, or at least he wasn't good with mine. Example: When he saw Cordelia, he asked her "How old are you?" and actually waited for a response.

Dude, I'm a fucking baby. I don't talk.

This whole thing is also a good example of how sleep deprivation makes me a raging bitch.

In case you are wondering why Faith is in short sleeves and Cordelia is in a snow suit, don't worry...those pictures were two days apart.

My fall back plan if I didn't get a partial refund was to wage a virtual jihad on the dentist by posting my experience on every available form of social media. Since they got the price under $100, I decided to just hate them privately.

At least the trip to the dentist wore both kids out so they took a nap at the same time when we got home and I got to fit in a 6 mile run. I think my husband really appreciated that I got to run before he got home. It really takes the edge off my crazy.

Have you ever posted a negative review of a business online?