Today La went to the dentist for a checkup.
La generally detests going to the dentist. Each of her past visits have been marginally successful only through copious amounts of coercion, trickery and bribery (my three favorite parenting tactics).
Maybe her fear has something to do with her unfortunate history of three separate incidents of oral trauma. And then there was that whole tooth extraction thing. But regardless of the root cause (ha! get it? "root" cause? Like a tooth? ... has a root? ................ *crickets*), her fear of the dentist has become so extreme that the last time we went for a visit I didn't dare tell her where we were going until we were standing right outside the office. When she realized where we were, a colossal meltdown ensued and I had to carry her kicking, thrashing, screaming body into the building slung over my shoulder like a sack of unruly potatoes.
I'm happy to report that today was our best visit by far. Maybe it has a little bit to do with the fact that La will be six in less than one week. She's getting older, more mature; perhaps a little less suspicious of the instruments found in the dentist's office. But the biggest difference was that instead of feeding her my typical full-of-crap line that goes something like, "Don't worry La! The dentist is our friend!" ... This time I could truthfully say that the dentist is our friend.
Still, she was a tiny bit nervous sitting in that chair all by herself.
But then Dr. P came in and she relaxed a bit. He has that effect.
Then she voluntarily opened her mouth and allowed him to clean her teeth. (WHOA, people. This is HUGE.) And I sat there with my iPhone snapping all kinds of pictures. I'm sure that wasn't annoying at all.
Thank you Dr. P for taking such great care of La today (and for looking so darn cute in your scrubs). We appreciate it more than you know.
