Our Friend the Dentist

Hana had her very first dentist appointment today. It probably helped that we've been talking about going for a very, very long time. Like over a year. Almost every time we brush her teeth I talk about "the tooth doctor" and how he loves to tickle clean, healthy teeth. I told her she'd get to sit in a big chair and there would be robot arms (the light, etc.). I also told her someone would stick their hands in her mouth, tickle and count her teeth and then brush them and make them cleaner than ever. She knew she would get some sort of prize at the end, like, a new toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss. She loves getting new toothbrushes and "flosses" almost daily. To say she was excited is an understatement. Our appointments were back-to-back so we got to choose who would go first and she wanted me to. This was our first time seeing this dentist, so my appointment took about an hour. My totally awesome and absolutely fantastic three-year-old sat quietly in a chair in the corner of the room. When she wasn't absorbed in what was being done to me, she was coloring in a coloring book and singing to herself. The most "awful" thing she did was take off her shoes to show the dental hygienist her pink toenails. When it was time for them to take my x-rays she sat patiently in the hallway and waited until she was told she could re-enter. Once it was her turn, she literally bounced into the chair. They had funny names for all the instruments, like "Mr. Thirsty" the spit-sucker thingy. "Don't swallow your bubble gum flavored fluoride, Hana. Mr. Thirsty really likes bubble gum and he's really thirsty!" When sucking the extra fluoride out of her mouth she was told "Now give Mr. Thirsty lots of kisses," which she did and this made sure they were able to get all the extra fluoride out of her mouth. Fluoride? That's right. We expected a simple run-of-the-mill toddler visit, which would possibly be limited to looking in her mouth and brushing her teeth. Did we get it? No! What we got was a super duper big girl visit complete with x-rays, an official cleaning (with the scrapy thing and the rubbery toothbrush thing), and a successful fluoride application! Hana just kept amazing us all! She even got to wear these beautiful Disney Princess glasses during the process, just in case things got messy. I was not proud of her. I WAS OVER THE MOON WITH PURE DELIGHT! This little girl never ceases to amaze me. Is it weird to admire your three-year-old? Oh well if it is, because I certainly do! I have a lot to learn from my precious daughter. For those of you who don't know, I admit I'm going through a bit of a "dark spell" (for lack of a better term and to give emphasis to what I'm about to say). I'm sure to share the nitty gritty at some point, when I'm ready. I'm just not there yet. I'm still trying to iron out the kinks in my heart and mind. But during my darkest days (hence my dark spell), Hana is the light of my life! She always manages to put a smile of my face. I will never ever, ever be able to explain to her how much I adore her, I can only hope she feels it in her heart. We scheduled our next cleanings and Miss Independent wants to go in by herself while I get my appointment out of the way in the room next door...but in between now and then, yours truly will be having a root canal done. Now that's a long story that I probably will not share 100%. Let's just say a less-than-favored dentist did a shotty job at replacing an old filling of mine last year, which is why we found this new dentist we absolutely adore!