Going to the Dentist

On Monday, the kids took their first trip to the dentist.  To prepare, I took them to the library last Saturday to find some dentist books.  There were four books in the system, and three were checked out.  The one that was left was obviously left for a reason.  The librarian helped us locate the book, and we sat down to read it.  I quickly realized I was going to have to make up my own words.  It was not a book you would want to read to your children to be excited about going to the dentist!  It was about an alligator who was scared to go to the dentist to get his broken tooth fixed.  But, the dentist was scared of the alligator.  The pictures were somewhat frightening, and the words were even scarier.  Now I know why the other family must have checked three of the four books out. 

I came home from work on Monday to pick up the kids, and Zach, to go to the dentist.  From the moment I walked into the house, I could tell that Adlyn was excited and ready to go.  Brooks wasn’t scared or anything, he just seemed uninterested.  We arrived at the dentist and Adlyn went right in.  Brooks was excited to see the big fish tank and all of the toys there were to play with in the waiting room.  I filled out endless paperwork (which I have noticed is not fun when you have twins…can’t they just make a copy of one form and change the name on the top??) and they called us in to the office.  Adlyn sat on the dentist chair, Brooks stood near the doorway into the room, and stayed there.  They watched a little video on the screen about some puppies that went to the dentist.  Adlyn got to play with each of the dentist instruments and try them out.  She let them polish some of her teeth, and was cooperative when the dentist took a peek at her teeth.  Overall, it went very smooth and she got a pink toothbrush at the end.  We spent about 20 more minutes trying to coax Brooks to sit on the dentist chair, but he didn’t want to.  I wasn’t going to force him as I wanted him to have a positive experience and not be scared to go back in six months. 

Overall it went well, but they didn’t give Brooks a new toothbrush.  Should I care?  No.  But, did I care?  Yes.  So, he didn’t sit in your dentist chair, but he was well-behaved, didn’t cry or throw a fit…  Maybe next time.