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The dentist said my teeth couldn't be fixed that day which meant I had to wait for my appointment. Darren said it would be another week before we could see the surgeon who was going to remove the bad teeth from my mouth. But the first appointment was just to see how my teeth were and figure out which teeth needed to be removed. So it would be another few weeks before the pain was completely gone.

I never realized that dealing with teeth and dentists could be so time-consuming or painful. The pain was what scared me the most. I wasn't sure what to expect so the unknown fear was what kept me up some nights.

Darren did a good job at helping to distract me and my thoughts. Whenever I started to get overwhelmed, he'd ask me to help him with his work in his office or he'd play with me in my room. We spent a lot of time together and it helped us grow closer together.

But I was most upset about not being able to have foods that I liked. Pancakes, ice cream, cake, and anything sweet were all banned until my teeth were in better shape. Darren said it would hurt my teeth too much if I tried eating them with the state they were in so I was stuck eating boring foods until I could get my teeth all fixed.

Darren put some gross stuff on the teeth that hurt and told me it would help the pain. I usually wasn't in any pain unless I ate something or drank something cold. It was hard to eat when a lot of my teeth hurt all at once but I was hopeful that they would be fixed and the pain would go away.

I stayed in my bedroom to play to try and distract myself from the pain and keep Ted company. He liked it when I played with him and let him do stuff like have tea parties or sleepovers with the other toys.

Darren walked into my room and leaned against the doorframe. He watched us play for a minute before he spoke. "Hey, what are you guys doing?"

"Hi, Daddy. Do you want to help us clean? We just made my bed."

He glanced at my unmade bed and smiled. "I think I need to teach you how to make your bed."

I scrunched my eyebrows at him. "But I already did."

He shook his head and sat down on it close to where I was sitting on the floor. "You have to make it look neat. Your blankets need to be smoothed out."

"I'm sorry, Daddy. Ted and I tried."

"It's okay, baby. Do you want me to show you how to do it?"

I nodded and got to my feet. I tucked Ted into my arm as Darren got started on moving the blankets around.

"You have to put your big blanket like this so it will fit on the whole bed. If it lays the other way, it won't cover your head or your feet."

I nodded as I watched him turn the blanket so it fit the whole bed.

"I like to put my pillows over the blanket so it looks presentable in case we have guests."

"Guests?"

He nodded. "Yeah, like when grandma comes over. We don't want the bed to look bad when she comes over to see us."

I nodded.

Darren set the two pillows at the head of the bed and patted them. "There you go. I can show you how to put the sheets on another time."

"Do you do this every day?"

"I try to do it most days. It makes me feel like I've done something with my day."

"You do stuff every day, Daddy," I said as I rolled my eyes. Did he not think that taking care of me and working in his office was enough? To me, it seemed like too much.

He smiled. "Housework is different. It's easy to let things go and have them pile up. I don't like being overwhelmed with cleaning and chores."

"That's why you have me."

He patted Ted who was still stuck in between my arm and my side. "And Ted. He's a good helper, too."

I giggled and set Ted on the bed that was now made.

"Do you want to go make lunch with me?"

I frowned. I couldn't eat any fun foods so mealtimes weren't as enjoyable as they were before my teeth problems. "I can't eat anything anymore."

"Just the bad stuff. There's still lots you can eat."

"Like what?"

"Like bread and spaghetti and anything soft."

I sighed. "Those aren't fun foods. They aren't pancakes."

"When your teeth are all better, we'll get you pancakes. But for right now, you can't eat them unless you want your teeth to hurt."

"This stinks."

Darren put his arm around me and hugged me. "I know but it'll get better soon."

"It better. I hate not being able to have pancakes."

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I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Life has been insane lately and my stress is at an all-time high. I'm hoping to continue writing until I have to take care of my boyfriend (nurse Tawney to the rescue) as I'll have some time until then. I'm also moving this weekend so that'll put a hold on some writing. Thank you all for being so supportive and understanding. It's not an ideal situation and I didn't choose either problem I'm dealing with but I'll get through it and come out better on the other side. Stay tuned for more!