Open Wide

Chalk up another first for Ava - yesterday was her first DENTIST appointment! I just added her to my insurance in January so I figured we may as well get our money's worth :-) I actually wasn't too worried about how she'd do - she is usually pretty easy-going (did I just use that adjective to describe Ava?) with new experiences. You know, it's just daily life and her beloved parents that she has a problem with. Anyway, we did a decent amount of prepping beforehand, but I also didn't want to overwhelm her with too much information.

The part I was most worried about was that I needed to bring Reese along too - I just hoped she would fall asleep on the way there and be a non-factor. I figured my hands would be full enough with Ava. Unfortunately (in this situation) our dentist is about 3 minutes from our house which wasn't long enough for Reese to fall asleep. I would have driven around further, but I didn't have time. The appointment was at 3:30. Between 2:55 and 3:20 I was busy doing the following:
Waking Ava up from her nap (come on - the one day she decides to take a long nap!)
Deswaddling Reese who has just woken up from her nap
Nursing Reese
Encouraging Ava to take off her pullup and put her undies back on
Nursing Reese
Telling Ava to go potty before she puts her undies on
Nursing Reese
Telling Ava to put her pants back on
Nursing Reese
Removing random trinkets from Ava's hands
Telling Ava to put her pants back on NOW
Nursing Reese
Going downstairs to begin the outdoor apparel putting-on
Nursing Reese
Asking Ava to please put her brown boots on
Burping Reese
Grimacing at the spit up that is now on my shoulder
Removing Reese's diaper
Telling Ava to put her brown boots on
Wiping Reese
Cooing at Reese
Yelling at Ava to put her brown boots on NOW
Throwing away the diaper
Putting a new diaper on Reese
Yelling at Ava to put her coat and her hat on NOW (skipping the asking and telling phases)
Redressing Reese
Putting the insurance forms in the diaper bag
Making sure there is at least one diaper in the diaper bag (after that who cares?)
Zipping Ava's coat
Remembering Reese needs to come along too
Putting Reese in carseat
Putting hat on Reese, who is now wailing hysterically
Checking to see that I have pants on
Wiping away the spit up on my shoulder
Putting vest on myself
Grabbing keys
Locking and exiting the house
Taking several deep breaths
Putting Reese's carseat in the base
Putting Ava in her carseat
Telling her "Oh yeah, we're going to the dentist. Good luck."

So yeah, even after all of that, we made it to the dentist at 3:28. Reese was not asleep and started crying as soon as we sat down in the waiting area. Ava busied herself with the lego table while I got Reese out of the carseat and comforted her. To her credit, she stopped crying. Shortly thereafter, the hygenist came for us and we went to the chair. The CHAIR was the biggest obstacle - Ava was very skeptical of going in the chair. My negotiating techniques weren't great, since I was still holding Reese, who was conitnuing to get more agitated. I finally set the crying Reese down and assured Ava it would be OK and that I would hold her hand. Once she got in the chair she was fine. I picked up Reese again and thankfully she stopped crying. We proceeded with me carefully balancing Reese in one arm in the only position where she wouldn't cry and holding Ava's hand with the other. And this is why there aren't any pictures.

The hygenist was great - she explained everything to Ava in kid-friendly language and Ava was very cooperative. She counted Ava's teeth - she has 20 (10 on top and 10 on bottom). I have no idea when she got her 2 year molars - I didn't think she had them (LOL) but apparently she does. Ava's favorite part was the vaccuum that sucks out the water - she loved that! At the end, they gave her toothpaste, a toothbrush and let her pick out a toy. She picked a cheap Halloween toy, but you would have thought it was the greatest thing in the universe. She was so pleased and so was I. It couldn't have gone any better. Well, you know, considering.

When we got home, Ava asked, "Mom, can I brush my teeth?"