First trip to the dentist

On Friday, I took Ian to the dentist for his first exam and cleaning. I went to school to pick him up at 12:30. The kids were all laying down on their cots for nap, so Ian was pretty psyched to be getting out of naptime. So we're in the car on our way to the dentist and he tells me, "Mommy, wo3 zai4 shen1 qi4." ("Mommy, I'm mad.") I asked him why and he said, "Wo3 bu1 gao1 xin4." ("I am not happy.") This is basically what I say to him when I'm mad at him for doing something like pooping in his diaper. It was in keeping with the "I don't like you, Mommy" theme of the week. I asked why again and he struggled for his words and finally said, "Wo3 zai4 shen1 qi4 'cause ni3 ba3 shu4 dao4 zai4 wo3 de tou2 shang4." ("I'm mad 'cause you dumped a tree on my head.") What? He struggled some more and then said, "Wo3 zai4 shen1 qi4 'cause ni3 ba3 hua1 fang4 zai4 wo3 de tou2 shang4." ("I'm mad 'cause you put a flower on my head.") Well, that wasn't true either, but since there were flowers and leaves floating down from the trees, maybe something landed on his head. Whatever.

Anyhoo, we get to the dentist and go in. I have to preface this by telling you that the pediatric dentist happens to be part of a "dental spa", a revolutionary new way of practicing dentistry. The waiting area of this "spa" actually does look like a spa -- dimly lit, very zen and soothing, a pitcher of lemon water and glasses on a table, coffee or tea, if you like. While I was checking in, a very pleasant-looking older woman in patchwork overalls with white hair and glasses came over to Ian. She introduced herself as JoJo and wanted to show him something. Ian was not falling for it, though. She had a huge palette of paints and there was a high green chair, that kind of looked like a dentist's chair. He sat in it for all of two seconds, then slid off of it and clung to my hand. Of course, he wouldn't let her paint his hand, so she started painting her own hand. She took some bright yellow paint and started painting a lightning bolt on her hand. I turned to Ian and said, "WOW! A lightning bolt! Who else has a lightning bolt on him?" JoJo said, "Oh, has he seen that movie? I can't remember his name..." I asked Ian if he could tell her his name. He started smiling and whispered, "Lightning McQueen." Oh, thank goodness! So he got comfortable with JoJo and then Dr. Vali came out. He's a young guy and he was very friendly, but firm. He wanted Ian to go into the exam room by himself and Ian didn't want to go with him at first. Dr. Vali told him that Mommy could wait on the side, but if Ian didn't go with him, then Mommy would have to go outside. So Ian responded immediately and went with him. The set up there is great. All of the rooms are open into the hallway, with no doors. There are TONS of toys and things to distract the kids, plus a flat-screen tv on the ceiling playing cartoons. Ian didn't care for any of it, of course. But he got into the kid-sized dental chair and I went back to the waiting room. I could hear and see from there, but I couldn't see exactly what was going on with the dentist and the assistant. JoJo told me that Dr. Vali introduces all the kids to the equipment and shows them what each thing does. It sounded like Ian was being very cooperative. Whenever he didn't cooperate, Dr. Vali would speak firmly to him and he responded right away. When it was over, Ian got to pick out an electric toothbrush (he picked Pooh) and some toys (2 rubber duckies holding toothbrush/toothpaste) and got a "goody bag" with a toothbrush and strawberry-flavored toothpaste. Dr. Vali wanted to talk to me, so Ian went with JoJo into the waiting room. Dr. Vali said that we "brushed his teeth to death!" because there wasn't a speck on them. He asked me if it was Ian's first time to the dentist and I said yes. He said that Ian seemed to know everything already. Figures. He's such a smartie. It was probably because Miss Tiffany was reading a book about going to the dentist with Ian right before I went to pick him up.

Ian came bounding into Dr. Vali's office with his arms out in front of him. He had actually allowed JoJo to paint his arms. You don't know what a big deal that it. He NEVER lets anyone paint on him. She painted a lightning bolt with fire coming out on each arm. He held those arms out so carefully. When we left, I told him to say thank you, but Dr. Vali and JoJo said that he had already said it (I'm so proud!) and then I asked him to give JoJo a hug. He went to her right away and hugged her with his arms stuck straight out to the sides so as not to smudge his lightning bolts. It was pretty funny.

When I was strapping him into the car seat, I warned him to be careful not to get his lightning bolts dirty or smudged. He asked, "If we get it dirty, can we come back here?" Um, yeah. In another six months.

Here he is showing off his clean teeth (with a fluoride application) and his prizes and his arm paint: