03 February 2012

Score one for the “Tooth Doctor”…

Every now and then my kiddo manages to stun me. As luck would have it, he was a total gentleman for his first visit to the dentists last night. Hubby and I couldn’t have been more surprised. We were fully expecting an epic meltdown, followed by red-faced apologies and a mad dash out the door.

While he did whimper when hubby tried to put him in the chair, our savvy dentist decided to take another approach. Hubs got into the chair first and Drew sat on his lap; this seemed to put him at ease. The dentist then gave Drew a few tools to hold to get him interested. Wouldn’t you know it…he opened his mouth and jammed them in like it was nothing. The window of opportunity to actually get a decent look at his teeth was short-lived, but at least he didn’t cry. I helped coax his mouth open a few more times by getting him to roar like a dinosaur. Fortunately, all his teeth are there and spaced nicely. As for the snaggletooth, it seems to have been caused by his finger sucking. Drew ditched the soother when he was little and started sucking on his index finger even well before his teeth started to grow in. It turns out that he actually managed to affect the shape of his pallet, causing one tooth to grow in longer. Sounds pretty horrible, but the dentist assured us that the problem should correct itself as he stops sucking his finger – a habit we have been encouraging him to indulge in only at bedtime now.

Perhaps the best part of the whole appointment was when the dentist took Andrew over to a small treasure chest to pick out a reward for his good behavior. It doesn’t take much to win over my little guy. He picked out a little race car (of which he already has numerous) and all of a sudden you could see the love and adoration in his eyes. Just this morning, Drew was telling me how much he enjoyed the “Tooth Doctor” – score! We’ll see if he loves her so much when he actually goes for a real cleaning in nine months….that may take several cars.

02 February 2012

Dental distress

Tonight will mark a new milestone for our family – Drew’s first visit to the dentist I’ll readily admit that I have been avoiding this visit like the plague. If you even come remotely close to the little guy’s teeth, his hair gets redder and his horns begin to sprout. Our twice-daily tooth brushing routine is typically accompanied by unearthly screeching, swatting hands, tears and many expletives murmured under our breath. In short, dental hygiene is a battle.

Despite the struggle, I know that it’s high time that Drew sees a dentist. To put things delicately, he has a snaggletooth that has grown visibly longer than the rest of his teeth. While we have come to love the tooth and accept it as part of his quirky charm, it probably does warrant a quick look to see if it is affecting his bite. We would be remiss if we ignored it.

Even if Drew did have the "snaggle" issue, the kiddo still has to get used to the dentist. I pray that he won’t grow up to be one of those individuals that is paralyzed by fear each time they get into the dental chair. It’s just another little life lesson that he will have to learn - you may not “like” it but you have to “endure” it. If all else fails the old creative dishonesty may work. Something tells me that the explanation, “if you don’t go to the dentist, your teeth will fall out and you’ll never be able to eat again,” might resonate best with him…he loves food THAT much. We’ll see how desperate I get.

Wish us luck.

01 February 2012

5 simple ways to mess up your tween daughter...

Allow her to get a perm when she is already going through an awkward stage of life

Dress her in red when she has red hair…polka dots are an added bonus.

Add plenty of volumizing mouse to her hair to ensure that perfect triangle shape

Make sure her glasses cover “at least” half of her face

Allow her to carry stuffed fireman puppy companions

I’d love to tell you all that I don’t know who this kid is but the sad truth is

...drum roll...

It’s ME circa 1992

I would like to thank my father for bringing back horrid and painful memories of my youth, especially on Facebook for all to enjoy. Lovely Dad...just lovely….

On the plus side, I did eventually grow into my looks and grew the perm out. Oddly enough, as an adult I accidentally discovered that my hair is naturally curly. Looks like I could have saved my parents a good $100 on the bad perm. Actually, I’m glad they paid so much for my coiffe; I consider it payment for the other fashion atrocities they made me endure ; )