Chomper Check-up

Yesterday was the kids’ first trip to the dentist! Some of you are probably thinking, "he's 3 and already going to the dentist!?" and others, "he's already 3 and this is his first trip?!" but I read something recently (albeit I'm 99% sure it was a direct mail piece from a dental office) that children should see a dentist by their first birthday. Well, that was the first I'd heard of that....I'm pretty sure Will's 3 year check-up was the first time our pediatrician mentioned it. I did plan to bring Will when he was 2 but don't ask me how a whole year went by without taking him. Just one of those things I kept putting off. But a week or so ago I finally made the plunge and called the insurance to get a list of in-network providers. Well, there are none within a 25 mile radius so we get out-of-network coverage and picked whoever we want. Since Maggie had to come along for the ride, I figured why not get her checked too.

At any rate, the office has a huge pirate ship in their waiting room for the kids to play in and Will liked it but you can only go inside and not climb on top where the sail and wheel are, so he didn’t looove it. He gave it his best go and tried to climb up there before I caught him and the receptionist explained there’s no upper deck access. I really like this office…very colorful….a different primary color for each table, TV’s aptly appointed on the ceiling so as to watch while getting a good ‘ol fashioned teeth cleaning and a treasure chest to sift through for a job well done! And they have Fun Fridays where they only see new patients and each get their own time slot. So we were the only people there, very nice. I’m glad they didn’t think I was crazy for taking pictures of everything, in fact, the dentist was grateful and asked me to send him some!
Maggie just had a little exam and the dentist said he could feel her lower central incisors under the gums so they should come in soon. I’m so ready!! I feel like she’s been teething forever…she’ll go in waves where she’ll wake up a few nights and then she’ll be fine. He says that’s pretty common but I’ll be glad when they cut, especially now that she’s so into feeding herself, we can expand our food horizons. So Will was really the star today- laid on the table, under the light and had fluoride brushed on and all. He was such a big boy and did a great job being cooperative plus he received a healthy report from the doc! Will picked 3 bouncy balls out of the treasure chest after his cleaning. I’m happy to report that our first dentist trip was a good experience, hopefully all future check-ups go this smoothly.

Will’s view from his seat