pearly whites

today was an exciting milestone in luca's young life. this afternoon was his first visit to the dentist! (okay maybe more exciting for me) yes, i was a bit nervous about my three year old's reaction to strangers poking around in his mouth with weird looking and sounding instruments. so we scheduled my cleaning right before his and the two of us made an afternoon of it. he watched the hygienist clean my teeth (very intently i should add - he actually moved her hand out of the way a few times to see what was going on in there). he showed a lot of enthusiasm, continuing to ask, "my turn now?" for the last 15 minutes of my appointment.

he hopped in the chair, put on the bib ("that's goofy - my not a baby like gia!") and opened wide. lauren (our hygienist) was so great. she made everything so child-friendly. she counted his teeth and brushed them with cherry toothpaste he picked out. his favorite part was the suction straw - he loved the sensation when he closed his lips around it. (see video below as evidence)

i was so amazed at his behavior - especially since the strong-willed monster has been raising its ugly head around her lately - hence the lack of regular blogging, i am just too exhausted). the comments by the staff included: "he did better than most 6 year olds." "wow, maybe we have a future dentist here." "great job, kiddo, you may our job easy." (i realize that i am not responsible at all for how he chooses to react to a situation like this, but somehow it makes me feel like a better parent when he does well. so i totally bragging on luca, but i guess i am kinda bragging on my parenting. so, let clarify that for my own sake. he did great all by himself. not because i prepped him well (which i did) or because i am doing a good job with discipline and training (which we try to), but because he chose to react well to this situation.)

we ended with a marshmallow flavored flouride treatment (again, luca's choice). of course he got to pick out a free toothbrush at the end and a special toy out of a treasure chest (a yoyo that neither of us could get to work). oh and the sunglasses were a loan in case the light was too bright in his eyes. he wouldn't wear them during the cleaning because then he couldn't see what was going on.

his teeth looked great and we'll be back in 6 months!