Anden's 1st Dentist Appt

Yesterday Anden entered the world of pediatric dentistry. I had been prepping him for a few days about how cool it would be at the tooth doctor and that the chair was like a rocket ship that goes up and down and back and forth. When we pulled in, I took his picture to document the occasion.

Clearly after that great pose I was worried that he would be apprehensive when we entered. But oh how wrong was I! Upon our arrival, I quickly realized this isn't just your ordinary dentist office. My first clue was the wonderfully pleasing vanilla spice aroma. I expected to get knocked over by that nasty "dentist smell" but was pleasantly surprised instead. Then I looked around and realized it's a movie themed dentist office. There literally was a movie theater room next to the lobby area. Are you kidding me?! In the theater, there were regular theater seats and also tons of climbing cubes, etc (the kind from Gymboree!). And as if the theater wasn't enough, there was a whole wall with video games to play. Then another wall was full of computers for the kids. Wow, times must have changed since I was a kid at the dentist office. Wait, did they even have pediatric dentists then? There was probably only 2 dentists in town that serviced every age! And we definitely didn't have built in movie theaters!! My only excitement was watching my reflection in my dentist's huge glasses while he worked away on my teeth. I always felt so sneaky like I was spying...on myself!

Jeremy showed up while I was finishing the paperwork. He didn't want to miss this momentous occasion in his son's life. Anden, on the other hand, was so busy with all the "amenities" that he didn't even notice his Dad was there! Finally the door opened and they called "Anden". He was thrilled and marched right up to the door, past the doctor and down the hall by himself - as if he knew where he was going! We went down the hall to an open circular room with about 5 dentist chairs around the perimeter. I had never seen a group room but maybe that makes kids feel more comfortable? It was definitely kid friendly looking! So first, he got to pick out a new toothbrush. Again, not the cheapy 10 for $1 type that I got from the dentist. These were the fancy toothbrushes with all different cartoon characters. He picked a blue winnie the pooh one. He could care less who was on it, the blue won him over! Then it was time for "the chair". He was shy for about 30 seconds. Then we showed him how it went up and down. Then he noticed the dentist's "power tools" and was all over it! Before we knew it he was up in the chair lying down with his mouth open and ready to go! He did SO awesome! I'm still freaked out a bit with the "tickling" cleaning tool. But he didn't even flinch! They were super impressed with him and promised extra prizes for him at the end. Then the dentist came and checked him out and said he has fabulously perfect teeth! I admit I was very anxious for the verdict considering how much sugar ingestion Anden intakes on a daily basis!! But he said his teeth were perfectly spaced, straight and strong! That was my "prize" for the day! But not to be outdone with only good news, the dentist then gave him a new shirt, a goodie bag of toothbrush, toothbrush covers, floss sticks and toothpaste. Then he handed Anden a handful of tokens. Hhmm and what are those for? Well as they walked us out there were tons of prize machines for him to use his tokens for! He was thrilled!! So as I checked out, he and Jeremy quickly bought up all the prizes and were happily playing away with their helicopter flashlight key ring, sticky hand and other random trinkets that Anden would undoubtedly break before he got to the car.

Overall, what a great dentist experience!! I think I'll have to pass the news on to Blackfoot, Idaho that they have some fierce competition from the big city! Albeit, this dentist didn't have extra large glasses.

Oh and after the dentist we met the Ashworths for dinner. I asked Anden to tell them where he went today. His sudden amnesia kicked in. So I naively prodded him saying "was it the nose doctor??" thinking that would ease his memory back. His face lit up and the mischevious twinkle in his eyes sparkled. He immediately turned to our friends, "I went to the nose doctor today!!" "Really?!" our friends replied "and what did you do there?" Without hestitation he proudly stated "I got new boogers and they put them in my nose!!" Hhmm, I guess he and I weren't really at the same doctor appointment after all.