Dental Day
We went to the dentist yesterday. “We” here refers to Abbie and me. The boys stayed home since I didn’t think to make an appointment for them six months ago. They only have eight teeth between them, so there’s not much for the dentist to look at anyway.
When I made the appointment six months ago, I made it for late in the afternoon. It was perfectly timed to coincide with the boys waking from nap 2 of 3 and Abbie waking from nap 1 of 1. I prefer making appointments for first thing in the morning, which for our dentist is 10am*, so I know I can be seen immediately without worry that he’d fallen behind during the day. 10am was in the middle of the boys’ morning nap, so I’d need to find someone to listen for them while I was out. Instead I opted for the 4pm appointment so I could be a responsible parent and let the boys scream in the waiting room while I had my teeth cleaned.
Unfortunately, life goes on, children grow, and naptimes change. 4pm is now in the middle of everyone’s naptime, except for me of course. 4pm is the tail end of my naptime. I adjusted by setting everyone down a little early, and commandeering our neighbors into listening to the boys as they napped. Theoretically the boys should nap the entire time I’m gone, so our neighbors wouldn’t have to do any childcare per se, unless I woke someone up when I entered their room to fetch Abbie, which I did, but fortunately Ian fell back asleep so everything worked out.
We arrived at 4pm, parked on the street, and walked into the office. The dentist promptly greeted us and told us it would be a few minutes as he finished with another patient since he’d fallen behind during the day. We passed the ensuing 25 minutes by going through the diaper bag, rejecting its toys, discovering hidden crayons, and resisting the urge to entertain her with snacks right before having her mouth examined.
Abbie’s appointment was first. A child’s appointment consists of the dentist looking at her mouth, telling me everything looks good, and collecting his fee.* She still has no cavities, so it’s good to know that making her stick an electric toothbrush in her mouth once a day is accomplishing something. He did caution that she may have some space issues with her mouth being too small to accommodate all her teeth, but that was still a few years away. Ellie and I both had teeth pulled as children for the same reason, though the dentist informed us that there’s now an apparatus to stretch the mouth instead of removing teeth. This sounds like it takes the pain of having teeth pulled, and stretches it out over several weeks or months.
After her appointment, Abbie just had to sit quietly while I had my teeth examined. Unfortunately, Abbie doesn’t do “sitting quietly.” She screamed in the corner for a minute before I coaxed her onto my knees. I spent the rest of my exam and cleaning entertaining her on my knees, poking her, bouncing her, and talking to her, all to the enjoyment of the dental staff I’m sure. They helped entertain her by giving her a toothbrush, her choice of Barney, Dora, or Barbie. To my amazement she shunned Dora, whom she watches every day, for Barbie, whom she’s never seen before in her life. And I thought I was raising a tomboy.
After my appointment we packed up and made our appointment for six months from now. This time I made the appointment for 10am. The boys should be down to one nap a day by that time and awake in the morning. At least they’d better be awake; they have an appointment too.
* It must be nice to be a dentist.
When I made the appointment six months ago, I made it for late in the afternoon. It was perfectly timed to coincide with the boys waking from nap 2 of 3 and Abbie waking from nap 1 of 1. I prefer making appointments for first thing in the morning, which for our dentist is 10am*, so I know I can be seen immediately without worry that he’d fallen behind during the day. 10am was in the middle of the boys’ morning nap, so I’d need to find someone to listen for them while I was out. Instead I opted for the 4pm appointment so I could be a responsible parent and let the boys scream in the waiting room while I had my teeth cleaned.
Unfortunately, life goes on, children grow, and naptimes change. 4pm is now in the middle of everyone’s naptime, except for me of course. 4pm is the tail end of my naptime. I adjusted by setting everyone down a little early, and commandeering our neighbors into listening to the boys as they napped. Theoretically the boys should nap the entire time I’m gone, so our neighbors wouldn’t have to do any childcare per se, unless I woke someone up when I entered their room to fetch Abbie, which I did, but fortunately Ian fell back asleep so everything worked out.
We arrived at 4pm, parked on the street, and walked into the office. The dentist promptly greeted us and told us it would be a few minutes as he finished with another patient since he’d fallen behind during the day. We passed the ensuing 25 minutes by going through the diaper bag, rejecting its toys, discovering hidden crayons, and resisting the urge to entertain her with snacks right before having her mouth examined.
Abbie’s appointment was first. A child’s appointment consists of the dentist looking at her mouth, telling me everything looks good, and collecting his fee.* She still has no cavities, so it’s good to know that making her stick an electric toothbrush in her mouth once a day is accomplishing something. He did caution that she may have some space issues with her mouth being too small to accommodate all her teeth, but that was still a few years away. Ellie and I both had teeth pulled as children for the same reason, though the dentist informed us that there’s now an apparatus to stretch the mouth instead of removing teeth. This sounds like it takes the pain of having teeth pulled, and stretches it out over several weeks or months.
After her appointment, Abbie just had to sit quietly while I had my teeth examined. Unfortunately, Abbie doesn’t do “sitting quietly.” She screamed in the corner for a minute before I coaxed her onto my knees. I spent the rest of my exam and cleaning entertaining her on my knees, poking her, bouncing her, and talking to her, all to the enjoyment of the dental staff I’m sure. They helped entertain her by giving her a toothbrush, her choice of Barney, Dora, or Barbie. To my amazement she shunned Dora, whom she watches every day, for Barbie, whom she’s never seen before in her life. And I thought I was raising a tomboy.
After my appointment we packed up and made our appointment for six months from now. This time I made the appointment for 10am. The boys should be down to one nap a day by that time and awake in the morning. At least they’d better be awake; they have an appointment too.
* It must be nice to be a dentist.
posted by Matt at
10:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home