Little Journalist

I cannot believe we didn't think of this before! Always, at the end of each day we had little N, we asked her how her day was, what she liked and what she would want to do tomorrow or another day.

After this past school year (grade 1) according to her report card she is having troubles writing... Soooo how can we help her but keep it fun?
Then it hit me! Journaling! She used to draw pictures of her day at the end of the day when we had her (this was before she could write). She LOVED doing this with us before her bedtime story.

Since she has started writing, she practices her spelling, writing out words, reading every morning after breakfast. We make it fun with games and puzzles that we all play together as a family. She started becoming bored of these games lately... So what to do you ask? That's right I said it before journaling!

One of my good friends has a child that just turned 8 and she swears by it! (as long as you find a way to make it fun for your child) I showed little N all my old journals and she thought that was a great idea. So we started this up at the end of July. She picked out her very own journal (tinker bell of course) and could not wait to start writing in it! She has writen in it almost every day. Both my man and I are sooo impressed how far her writing skills and recall has improved over the last month! This is absolutely something we will be keeping up and we are planning on using it in the future. It really has so many benefits for a child. True. Look it up :)

A must try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjaZeamT4wA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Graduation day

‎"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."- Aristotle-

One step closer

This past Saturday was a big step for my governing body. Unfortunately it wasn't exactly what dental hygienists all over BC want, however, it's a step in the right direction! I'm soo proud to be a dental hygienist in BC as we have such a great education basis and can take our knowledge anywhere! Hopefully the next step of removing the 365 day rule with higher education, specifically a degree in health science through interprofessional collaboration (as this would benefit everyone in this area greatly) and goes through within the next couple years. I know I will be supporting them as much as I can to get the process moving. It's outrageous that dentists are governing hygienists... We have our own college governing us. It's all about money and power with the gov... Anywhooo

The past couple months I have been privilege enough to go on rotations, meaning I go out into the community to enhance the general populations overall knowledge base and hopefully enable them to focus on prevention rather then treatment after the problem has already occurred. I went on a rotation to a daycare on the downtown east side. The group of children had significant caries and pain in their mouth when asked... It broke my heart to see these children with cavities. The parents told us the kids went home every day after our lesson and asked their parents if they could brush! We taught them all about good foods vs bad foods, how to brush their teeth, and what it's like to visit a dental hygienist.the only downfall we found was the parents are the ones buying the foods and will be the ones to continue the habit of brushing and flossing, so we held a parent information night. There were HUGE giveaways and every single parent came up to us and asked a question, whether it was to do Witt their oral health or their children's, where they could get extra financial help for their kids and so on. It was such a great experience! I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Next I went to the hospital to deride one persons teeth, It was the most calculus I have ever seen. The poor guy had white coat syndrome, so he never went to a hygienist/dentist unless in severe pain. Meaning he has never had his teeth cleaned iris life... I provided him with information regarding how his oral health is linked to his overall health. I could work in a hospital setting for sure. If someone needs a big surgery and does not have optimal oral health they bring that person into the hygienists care in the hospital. The hygienist dismisses which ever client he/she might have and removes the bacteria and debris for this client that will be undergoing surgery.

We have presented information to other oral health professionals at dental conferences which is pretty neat too. It's amazing working as a health professional and to know that we are finally there in our professional and educational level of experience. We presented the social determinants of health and what impact we as health professionals could make.

Within the next couple weeks we will be attending a residential care facility to discuss oral health linked to systemic health, denture care, brushing, tracheotomies and npo related to hygiene. It will be another great experience. I can't wait.

Only a few more days until graduation day is here! I cannot wait to get out there and start working and gain more experience. I made a promise to myself to go to the schools in my area and present information and fun activities for children. Hopefully motivate them to focus on prevention rather then treating after the problem has occurred,

I am so proud of what my colleagues and i have accomplished and where we are taking dental hygiene.

 

Surrounded with love

I am the Luckiest Girl In The World.


I wonder some days how I could have got through this past 2 years as I moved away... I have the BEST momma in the entire world, the most supportive man anyone could ask for, my sisters are always there to back me up in every situation, and my friends are waiting for me when I come back for a visit. 


Its true, Luckiest Girl In the World.


Never forget how lucky/blessed you are even if its the smallest thing. Keep a positive attitude and high spirits. There is no point in letting things get you down/irritated, and turn you negative. 


Some Quotes I love: (there are about 1000 more but these are some I stumbled upon)
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
- Jane Howard


Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.
-Muhammad Ali


Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
-Mahatma Gandhi

Little sad...

I love being home and living with my man. We had anything great weekend as usual. He made shelves in our shed and I supplied him with refreshments and I cleaned the entire house, carpet cleaning and everything! Our home looks soon beautiful and now our shed does too!

I just got on the ferry and am sooo sad, I already miss my man, pup and our very comfortable bed! Good thing this is a short week :)

Only 4 more sleeps until home time and 82 more sleeps until graduation.

 

Home time

Yay I love home day!!! Plus I got soooo many thins signed off today! 1 assessment task and 2 QAC's! Just sooo happy right now. And i caught the 11am bus so on the 12:30 ferry! Meaning home at 2:10! Best day ever? Probably. Anyways, this week went by pretty fast, lots of group work. That is the stuff that just makes you completely mentally exhausted...

It's been soo nice going home every weekend, we are slowly cleaning up our house (much needed upgrading). The best upgrade will be the flooring, I dislike carpet sooo much...