We’d been talking it up for the past few days – that N8 was going to get to see the dentist and he has been most excited! We started out today with brushing (as usual) then N8 started talking about how he was going to tell the dentist that he loves to brush his teeth especially with his cool Spiderman spin brush and how he doesn’t swallow the toothpaste.

So, we arrive at the dentist’s office (which was lovely – you can definitely tell this is a pediatric dentist office by Madagascar playing on TV and the abundance of toys and play area). We wait a few minutes before “Nathan” is called and we proceed to follow the dental hygenist, Connie. We are escorted into a room with all the fixings of a dental office. The scary brown chair, all kinds of gadgets and gizmos at the chairside, a sink, stickers, toothbrushes and this scary looking cow puppet with a complete set of dentures. Her name was Molly and I guess she’s supposed to make the kids laugh or something but really she was kinda creepy with her teeth and all.

So anyway Connie proceeds to engage in conversation with Nathan asking him about his cool fire truck t-shirt, what kinds of things he likes to play, if he brushes his teeth well, what his brother’s name is, etc. You know, just the basic get-to-know-you questions. Which by the way, I am shocked that he remembered William is 5 months and not 4 anymore. Someone asked him last month how old Will was and he replied “four months” which I was shocked about too, but him remembering that he just turned 5 is really great! You can really tell that Connie is building on her trust level with Nathan because then she starts to ask him if he’d like to help her with some of the equipment. She pulls out the polishing gadget and stretches it over to where he’s standing and starts to tell him that it spins just like his spinning toothbrush and asked if he wanted to feel it on the tips of his fingers. He replied, “no” but after I volunteered that I would try it first just to make sure it’s okay then he decided he would try it out after me. The spinning action tickled his little fingers and a smile emerged.

Then she moved on to introducing “Mr. Thirsty”, a.k.a., the spit suction thingy. She handed Nathan a paper cup and asked if he wanted to see how thirsty Mr. Thirsty was. She then took the water sprayer gadget, sprayed some water into the cup and suctioned it out with Mr. Thirsty. She then asked in a surprised manner, “Oh! Where’d the water go?” I think it took Nathan a second or two to catch on but he finally realized that Mr. Thirsty was guzzling it down. Then he actually got to hold Mr. Thirsty while Connie sprayed the water into the cup and he got to suction it out. They did this about a dozen times before she finally said, “okay….last time!” and then she asked if she could spray a little water into his mouth if he wanted a drink. He said, “no.” So then, you guessed it, mommy decided to give it a try. Connie gave me a quick squirt of water and I swallowed it and showed Nathan that it was okay. He finally tried it.

Connie then moved on to getting Nathan interested in how many teeth he had. She told him that today we were going to count his teeth and polish them and asked if she could go ahead and count them. When he replied “no”, she asked if she could start by counting his fingers instead. He was game. With his hands spread, she began couting each finger one by one and touched each tip as she counted. She asked him again if she could now count his teeth in his mouth. Again he replied, “no”. With that we moved on.

Connie then pointed out the lovely brown chair and showed him how it went up and down and reclined back all while were standing next to it. I asked Nathan if it reminded him of Jim’s chair (who’s the barber that cuts his hair) and he agreed it did. Connie then showed us the little pillow connected to the chair for patients to lean their heads on and the bright light above the chair and how they had to use that because people’s mouths are dark inside. She then asked Nathan if he wanted to go for a ride in the chair. Reluctantly, he said “yes”. I was so proud when he climbed up on that big chair all by himself and I could tell he was nervous but trying to be brave as she moved it up and down a few times. She then asked if it would be okay if she leaned the chair back so she could take a look inside his mouth and he was fine with it. She asked him if he wanted to wear the sunglasses she had for him since the light would be really bright but he declined. The rest is history! He was a fabulous patient!

When it came time to polish his teeth he got a choice of flavors for the polish: bubble gum, grape, cherry, or cookie dough. He chose cookie dough which I thought was odd. I thought for sure the bubble gum was going to win. She then asked permission if she could polish just one tooth. She let him pick out which tooth it was and she polished it. He opened wide and seemed as though he’d been to the dentist a hundred times before. (Hmmm….he must get his enthusiasm from me as I LOVE going to the dentist!) She continued to ask if she could polish each tooth at a time until he seemed completely comfortable with it. After the polishing was over she went over each tooth to count it. Incidentally, he has 10 on bottom and 10 on top although his molars are not all yet completely in. One is two-thirds of the way in and the other is nearly completely in.

After all was said and done, he received great marks for his teeth being so clean and Connie also told me that his teeth layout was also really nice – I have no idea what that means! The dentist then came in to check everything out and talk to Nathan a bit but by this time he was really tired and I could tell he was dying to play with all of his goodies from their office. Connie had given him stickers, a new toothbrush, floss, a little round mirror thing that they use to look at your teeth with, a pencil with soccer balls all over it, and a little toy in the shape of a person that sticks to the wall with suction I think. We walked out of that place with a bag full of stuff!

The whole ordeal really wore him out because he fell asleep on the way home from the appointment and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet! I was so proud of my baby though! His teeth were sparkling white after the appointment and he was proud of himself too!

(incidentally I forgot my camera in the car so I was forced to use my crappy camera phone!)