K’s first dentist appointment was this evening!  Based on his usual panic/meltdown at the pediatricians, and his recent (last few months) attachment to my hip any time his surroundings aren’t…well…HOME…I was confident this wouldn’t go well.  I apologized in advance to the receptionist.  She smiled.

We’ve been gearing up for the appointment by talking about teeth.  We practiced opening up and saying “ahh!”.  We counted teeth.  K brushes his own teeth, and we come in for a final touch-up.  All in all – he seemed as ready as he could be.

On the way there I told him we were going to he dentist. I remembered he had no clue what that meant so I started calling it the toothbrush house.  He was already holding his Elmo toothbrush at the time, so that got him started babbling about Elmo.

Upon entering the lobby…he was given a Melissa and Doug puzzle.  He busily removed and replaced the pieces, then went and scooted one piece under the door and said “uh oh, under door!’.  (Sneaky little fella).

When it was our turn, the very sweet and patient assistant came to get us.  K, still toting his toothbrush, followed along timidly, until he saw a tv above the chair.  Then he ran to the room.  He sat in my lap while she tried to examine his teeth, but he was too busy clenching his mouth shut…and watching tv. I tried the games we’ve practiced…”ahh”, counting teeth, showing her how he can brush “back and forth” and in “circles”.  But he ignored us.  And watched tv.  I tickled him, got him laughing.  But the moment her fingers got near his mouth, he was back to clenching.  And watching tv.

We finally settled on leaning him back so that his head is in her lap, and his lower half in my lap.  He thought that was a horrible idea.  But because he opened his mouth to tell us how horrible that idea was, she was able to get in there for a quick peak.  We chose the same method with the dentist came in.  More open-mouthed objections.  More checking.  When they were done, K tearfully begged “watch tv!”.

All in all they were pleased!  She predicts he will have crowding, which doesn’t surprise me.  But no signs of cavities, and they were coming in nicely so far.

So the dentist thinks my kid is addicted to tv.

And that he has healthy looking teeth.

K got a new toothbrush with Winnie the Pooh on it.   As we were talking about the visit and the new toothbrush on the way home,  K added “toothbrush house!”   “Ahhhhh!”.

NOW he does it…sneaky little fella indeed.