"First Trip to the Dentist".....

My post last week started out with, EB having croup, an ear infection, and fever for 4 days.  Last week was a wash.  Well, this week, mommy has come down with croup (upper respiratory infection), so here's to another wash of a week!  Thanks to sweet friends and family, EB has been taken care of this week so that I can rest and get well.  It's hard enough to have a sick child, but then when mommy gets sick but child feels better, I dare say that's even more difficult. I will say though, EB's tender and compassionate heart has come out in full force since I have been sick. He has been very concerned about me. He has walked over to me, lay his head on my arm and said, "I so sorry you're sick" at least 100 times. Or, "I so sorry you got my cough mommy".  Or my personal favorite, "you gonna be okay mommy" in the most sincere and confident voice. We're making it - and next week will have better, brighter days ahead!

I did manage to pull myself together long enough to take EB to his very 1st dentist appointment, which has now been rescheduled 4 times! I was determined not to have to reschedule this again, so off we went to the dentist on Tuesday of this week.  I did not take my camera because honestly, I didn't want to cause a scene (fear of man people, I'm working on it!!), and also, I didn't want to make it a bigger deal than it already was for EB. We have been talking about going to see, "Dr. David" for a long time and how he was going to ask him to smile, show him his teeth, get his teeth brushed etc.....   He seemed happy enough about the whole thing.  There was even a question on the new patient form that said, "Do you expect your child to be cooperative"?  I said, "I sure do", and I meant it.  I was really going to be surprised if he didn't cooperate. I didn't however know that when we arrived, that they would be taking him back all by himself - without ME!  I thought for a minute about changing my answer on the new patient form, but then decided that I would stick with my first answer - because I really did expect him to do okay.  They assured me that if they needed me, they would come out to the waiting room and get me.  Thanks to the 4 huge fish and turtle tanks in the waiting room, he was well occupied and distracted while we waited for his name to be called. He kept walking around the waiting room to each tank "oohing and ahhing" over the fish, saying, "follow me mommy", as he walked to each tank multiple times.  Well, they called his name and out walks a sweet young dental hygienist named, "Summer".  I explained to him that he was going to go with "Miss Summer" to get his teeth brushed and mommy would come meet him in a few minutes.  He seemed fine with that, took "Miss Summer" by the hand, walked towards the door, and looked behind his shoulder and waved, "Bye Mommy"!  That's my boy I thought.  I had a huge, "I am so proud of you" moment and might have even choked a tear back or two.  When did he get so big?

Well, about 20 minutes later, the door opened and "Miss Summer" came out to get me.  She said that he had done so well and was one of the most cooperative 2 year olds she had ever worked on.  She told me how he sat in the big chair all by himself and didn't have to sit in anyone's lap, and did everything that he was asked to do. She also said she learned all about John Deere tractors during those 20 minutes,  and......  NO CAVITIES!  She also told me that at one point while she was cleaning his teeth, he looked up at her and said, "Miss Summer, you're doing a great job"!!   I can just hear him saying that.

He walked out of the office with a bag full of "prizes" (a Diego toothbrush, whale shaped dental floss, a rubber ball, some stickers, a stretchy bracelet, and some toothpaste) - which I have a feeling most of it was ingested on the way home in the back seat, or else it was a half-empty toothpaste tube!

I give the 1st dentist appointment an A+.