Counting Teeth

We added the girls onto our dental insurance last year but after our life was over taken with the intensity of a twin pregnancy, we put off taking the girls to the dentist. We figured their teeth were in decent shape until Eloise was potty trained by way of 3,000 jellybeans. That pushed me over the edge & I called to make appointments for both girls. 

We have an old copy from my childhood of Arthur's Tooth that Charlotte has enjoyed over the course of the past year. I love that she loves reading my old books but this one came back to haunt us due to this picture....

I'm pretty certain that Charlotte thought of this when we told her she would soon be visiting the dreaded dentist. She, in true Charlotte fashion expressed her complete aversion toward the dentist multiple times a day, every day for about a week before her appointment. We stopped even bringing it up in hopes that she would forget about it ; ) My mom mentioned that the dentist would count her teeth thinking that Charlotte would like that since she loves to count.  Oh my, that did not go over well with her! She would be completely quiet eating her breakfast & would randomly yell "I don't want the dentist to count my teeth!!" It was a bit humorous if we are being honest here ; ) 

Eloise on the other hand was excited to go on a car ride alone with Mommy, even to see the dentist! Eloise is so adaptable. I am not sure if that is common of a second child but I do enjoy that about her.  As we rode in the car together, I watched her looking out the window pointing out school buses, cows & ho-sees. It is so wild how big your baby looks when you have another baby (or two).  It made me teary eyed to think about how quickly she is growing & developing.  Just witnessing her transition into being a big sister since the boys have been home has made me love her even more. 

Back to the dentist....

We arrived right on time at the pediatric dentist & walked into a room FULL of crazy kids! There was a movie on & toys to play with. I think Eloise was in shock after being in quarantine since her brothers arrived. She brought her Minnie Mouse along for the trip & held her close as she took it all in.  I chatted with a mom there that had identical twin girls that were just a little younger than Elo. She assured me that if I thought the newborn phase was challenging to get ready for toddlers. I just love encouraging words from others ; ) I had to laugh as I sat there & listened to all the racket coming from the rooms in the back.  It seriously sounded like they were torturing 10 kids at one time with all the screaming! I was thankful that little oblivious Eloise was the guinea pig for our pediatric dentistry experience. We waited to be called & finally heard our name. Eloise scooped up Minnie Mouse & walked bravely to the back. 

The hygienist was really sweet & asked Eloise to climb up on the table. I helped her up & she laid right down & put Minnie by her side. She was delighted to see a TV screen directly over her head....that helped to provide a bit of a distraction although I'm not sure she needed one. 

You seriously would have thought this child had been to the dentist once a week for an entire year! She did exactly what she was asked & let her clean every tooth, squirt water in, suck it out & put the fluoride treatment on all without a wiggle (or a bite).  Here she is with her little mouth open wide....

She had an excellent report which was expected with the amount of time this child spends brushing those pearly whites. She has 14 to be exact & should have the last four molars coming in between age 2 & 3. Eloise was happy to receive a butterfly sticker & new toothbrush for her bravery...

And when asked to show me her super duper clean teeth, she quickly obliged...

What else would you celebrate her first teeth cleaning with other than sugary sweetness...

It was a great first visit & we hurried home to tell her big sissy all about it so she would be prepared for her visit a couple days later.  Charlotte took one look at the pictures & again screamed "I don't want the dentist to count my teeth!!" "Great" I thought...what am I going to do? A little background to justify my anxiety....We recently visited the pediatrician for a suspected urinary tract infection. We had to see a different one than she is used too which was the first problem.  Charlotte went bonkers when she tried to listen to her with a stethoscope.  This was totally out of character for the child who requests a full examination when we go for her sister's visit. I pictured a complete replay of our visit times a million since they would be putting things in her mouth. I recruited muscle man Rob to accompany us just in case she needed some "assistance" if you will.

She told us multiple times how she did not want to go while we were driving there. We talked about being brave & I chose to refrain from telling her about how I loathe getting my teeth cleaned.  We walked into a quiet. calm waiting area & she happily sat down next to Rob. They called our name within 2 minutes & we were taken to the back.

Again, we had a lovely hygienist that knew just what to say to convince Charlotte that everything was going to be alright. I held my breath as she asked her to hop up on the table.  I was in shock when she climbed up, laid down & opened her mouth when asked to do so.

She was looking pretty stylish in the new shoes her Gaga bought for her earlier that day...

She never even batted an eye as they did all they needed to do...

She even flashed a smile when it was all over!

She too received an excellent report minus one small detail. All that thumb sucking could be the cause of this girlie needing some braces someday.  This issue is something we have not tackled but maybe should have earlier on. I was a thumb sucker myself & from what my mom has told me, I was found doing so in my sleep in elementary school. I know it must be hard to stop.  I do think it was helpful to have someone other than mommy & daddy talk to her about it.  She got her attention & Charlotte has been taking her thumb out of her mouth frequently saying "oops, I forgot!" She & her Daddy came up with a code word that we can say to remind her.  "Drop Bear" has been exclaimed pretty often in the past 3 days but I think it does the trick.  If we could only train Eloise to shout it from her crib randomly throughout the night we might be able to kick this bad habit! 

Charlotte was adorable leaving as she was super proud of herself.  We were quite proud of her too.

Her reward was to go to a playground with just mommy & daddy.  We stopped over in Lake Nona near the dentist & played for a bit with this girl who seems older every day!

I would say we had great successes for our first visit to the dentist! Charlotte was really disappointed the following day that we were not returning for another visit. She told me that she wants to go every day. Proof that you should never say you don't like something if you have never tried it.