Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Toddlers at The Dentist

The morning of the girls first dentist appointment, they were so excited! They woke up, ate breakfast, and in the process of getting dressed they must have asked me a million times what time the dentist opened. They were ready to go!

The girls don't watch a lot of TV, when they do watch, it's typically Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or a Disney movie. In the last several weeks, one of the things that came on right before each episode of MMCH was a small commercial (in a sense) about going to the dentist. Each time we would see this, we would always celebrate that fact that we were going to get to go there soon. In this "commercial" there are cool things on the wall there and things like that. I would ask them if they thought the dentist office that we were going to had cool things on the wall. I had them excited about every part of this appointment. Nothing about the disappointed them!

Excitement brewed as we got out of the car. Walking into the office building we had to go down a pretty cool staircase. This was a pediatric dentist that we were going to, so even the sign on the door was exciting for them! We opened the door COOL THINGS ON THE WALL, squeals of excitement! The fish tank, the train table, books, they had it all! Luckily Daddy showed up pretty quickly and was able to help me with the paperwork! The girls were so excited, wanting to show me everything, that it was hard to concentrate on what I had to do. THEN THEY CALLED OUR NAME!!

As we walked back, each of them were able to choose a new toothbrush and were shown the magical treat/toy corner that they would be able to choose a toy and a sticker after we were finished. L went first, she sat in the chair and started talking a mile a minute to the dental assistant, Mrs. Sheila. Mrs. Shelia was amazing! L is very talkative, Mrs. Sheila listened to her and showed her each one of the tools, explained in perfect terminology what it was for and what she was going to do with it, and she would let L touch whatever she was talking about. Before moving onto the next tool, she would touch that one to each of L's fingers (so she could feel it and know it doesn't hurt)!  L laid back in the chair and was given some some glasses to put on. Mrs. Sheila made sure her glasses were okay, that she could see in the mirror and ask if she was ready before just getting started! 

There was a girl in the area next to us just screaming. I was so nervous that this was going to set one of the two of mine in a frenzy. M asked a few times what was the matter, but we were able to divert her attention! L did have to have an x-ray (on the tooth that she hit on our bed, I explained this in the last blog post). She sat there like such a big girl, she sat still. I was so proud of her! I stood there watching her, seeing how brave she was being, she looked so big. It was hard not to cry! (I say that as I start to tear up)...

It was M's turn and seriously everything went just the same. Even though M watched as Mrs. Shelia went through all of the tools, Mrs Sheila went through them all again (the whole bit) with M! M did hold my hand as she got her teeth cleaned. I think it made her a little nervous, but she did incredibly well! Daddy and I were both so impressed. They even did well when the actual dentist came in. The dentist saw M first (since she was already in the chair). The funny thing, both girls had recently learned how to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, as the dentist walked in M looked at her and began to say it. To listen to a 2 year old say that word, not only is it the cutest thing ever, it also takes a few minutes! They also thought it was the cutest thing ever, they brought multiple people to hear both of them hear it! It was very cute and very funny!

Both girls had a great check-up! I was happy to hear that we are doing such a great job with their teeth. The dentist was happy to hear the things the girls eat and don't eat/drink! Together we had conversations with the girls about some changes we were going to make to our bedtime routine (this needs it's own blog post). One thing we were going to start is flossing. They did well with Mrs. Sheila flossing them at the dentist office. I wasn't sure how it was going to go at home!

On the way out of the office, they got a goodie bag with their new toothbrush, some floss sticks and I don't remember what else was in there. As we walked out, there were able to choose their prize. I think this may have taken as much time as their actual appointment. As Daddy and I were praising them on how well they did, Mrs. Sheila was doing the same. L asked when we get to come back again. Mrs. Sheila whispered to me not to expect the next appointment to go as well??!! Really?? 

The next appointment is scheduled! We'll start talking it up once again as the time gets closer and hope for the best!!

What kind of experiences have you had with your little ones at the dentist? If you haven't been yet, how do think it's going to go? Please share your thoughts!


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