1ST TEETH SCRUBBIN'

James did SO GREAT today at the dentist! It was his very first trip, and we were really impressed, surprised (we had built ourselves up for trauma), and proud of him.

We picked a pediatric dentistry office based on multiple recommendations from coworkers. The waiting room was filled with toys and puzzles, and even a room just with stairs and a slide. James made friends with a little 5-year-old girl and raced her down the slide while they waited their turns in the chair. When they called us back, Jay stayed with Cora while I took the little man in. The exam room was actually one big room with multiple tables, murals on the wall, stuffed frogs and figures everywhere, plants, plenty of light, and cheery dental hygienists. James' hygienist sat him on one of the exam tables and we talked about his brushing habits (and thumb sucking habit, and bedtime milk-sippy habit) while she showed him some of the equipment. When he got antsy, I came over and sat next to him. Then she laid him down, looked around his mouth, and commenced the tartar scraping and cleaning. It didn't phase him a bit! I wouldn't say he opened wide and said "Ah" or anything, but he allowed her to do her thing, just laying there calmly holding onto my hands with his. He liked the little suction/vacuum thingy and thought it tickled, but didn't seem as impressed with the cold water jet. There were no tears. A bit of fussing when it came time to polish his teeth with the bubblegum-flavored paste, but it was short-lived. I think the noise bothered him more than the invasion of space. Then there was a quick foamy flouride scrub that he didn't love, but didn't fight either. When she was done, we wandered around and looked at all the frogs and tooth displays until the dentist came out. She gave James a good once-over and talked to us about his thumb sucking. Basically, he needs to stop. Not immediately, but she'd like to see us wean him from it in the next 6 months or so. Currently, he has a bit of an underbite (class 1 or less) that would actually be worse if he DIDN'T suck his thumb (probably closer to class 3), so for now it's helping him. However, that won't always be the case, and we don't want his top teeth to flare outward down the road. We're going to play it by ear for now, and just encourage more activities that require both hands at once, and praise him when he's NOT sucking his thumb. If his habits don't change in 6 months, then we'll consider using the icky-flavored fingernail polish or some such thing. For now, he has clean, perfect teeth, and we're happy to know it.

(He thought the many drawers of teeth castings were super cool)

Oh yeah, and they were sweet enough to classify him as "under 2" so they could "grace" the appointment (meaning, we didn't pay a thing and neither will our insurance). Bonus!