1st dentist visit

...which was not planned at all!

When I was at the dentist 6 months ago, we were discussing when Rowan should have her first visit, and they said around 3. But that it wouldn't hurt to bring her along to one of our visits so she could get used to the idea of the dentist, and maybe they would count her teeth and get her acquainted.

So today, I had an appointment, and I took Rowan with me. I was a bit anxious about it because I was worried she was going to be running around the office, and not sit still and misbehave. So I brought the portable dvd player to entertain her with, and they had books for her to read and what not. So I got her set up on a chair right next to the exam chair with her dvd player (with Frosty the Snowman, her choice of the moment) and a book she had picked in the waiting room. The dental hygenist was very good about involving Rowan and explaining what she was doing to me and what not, but all of a sudden Rowan's lip curled out and she started pouting and crying for me, so she ended up sitting on my lap (below the bump of course) for part of my cleaning, then she was up and down between the dvd (now with cereal and juice for a snack too) and my lap. But she was well behaved.

So then when my visit was about done I started asking again about when to bring her, and the hygenist said anytime at this point. She had checked her day, and she had no one scheduled after me, so if I wanted her to count her teeth and let her sit in the chair, she would see what Rowan would let her do. Needless to say, Rowan did very well, with a little bribery on and off, but essentially she had her 1st full dental visit. The actual polishing of teeth was only minutes long, but she did get all of them, and the doctor even got to take a peek at her mouth. The hygenist made the mistake of giving Rowan a plastic cup, and showing her the water squirter and suction, so they were spraying water in the cup and sucking it out. Rowan thought it was the coolest thing and probably would have done it all day. It was funny too, everything that went near her mouth, she had to help hold, so the mirror, the water, the suction, the polisher (I know, I know my dental terms!), you name it, she had her hand on it. And even though they offered her some of their sunglasses, we happened to still have some in the diaper bag, so she wore her own for a bit!

It was very cute, and I am very proud of how well she did. So now we had to make appointments for all 3 of us next summer! Plus, we will have another one to tote along as well. Could be interesting!