Wednesday, September 21, 2005
I went to the Dentist last week. It's taking a while for my mouth to recover but the actual procedure was amazingly pain free. The only stress was from my preconcieved notions.
It was thanks to my 6 yr. old daughter that I finally got up the nerve to schedule a long overdue appointment for myself. She's had several visits to the dentist these last few months. Yesterday was her last appointment with the exception of her regular 6 month appointments in the future.
She is so very fond of her dentist and, it seems the feeling is mutual.
I'm sure everyone, in one way or another. is well aware of the planning a young woman does, picking out just the right outfit, making sure the makeup is applied just so, choosing the right hairdo, changing her mind on at least one aspect of her chosen appearance at least once for a special date.....
Starting early Saturday, Lindsay informed me that she was going to wear a dress to the dentist. By Sunday morning she had decided what dress she was going to wear. By Sunday evening she had changed her mind, deciding on another dress. Monday, she couldn't decided which dress. Tuesday morning she finally decided, although it really was a tough choice. She then went through her drawer and chose just the right pair of panties! Then the socks. Of course they had to be pink socks, but was it to be the light pink or the dark pink socks? After much thought she decided it was to be the light pink socks, because they went the best with her dress. Okay. Got her all dressed, she chose a bracelet to complete her perfect look.
2 hours early and she was anxiously watching the clock. About a half hour later we discovered a problem. She had lost one of her buttons! Oh dear. We searched high and low to no avail. Finally convinced her the dentist would like the other dress just as much. Fortunately, it contained the same hue of pink so we didn't have to change her socks or her bracelet! Got her all changed and she decided she needed her hair to be fixed a special way. Okay. Got her hair all fixed just right. She was beautiful!
It was now noon. We really didn't need to leave til between 1:05 and 1:10. Lindsay was watching the clock again, "Only 1 hour!" Of course we all needed to rush to get ready. We could not, under any circumstances be late for this most important appointment! We were going to her favorite place to see her favorite person! We must not be late! Okay, okay. I'll go get changed. She was rushing everyone! We ended up leaving at 1:00 and got to the dentist's office a full 10 minutes early.
Lindsay had spent the weekend working on a special picture for her dentist. It was a picture of him (with very prominent hands!) and her (with big blue eyes) having a picnic on a sunny day. During our 10 minute wait (our dentist is very prompt) she showed her picture to everyone, the receptionist, the assistants, other patients in the waiting room...Everyone assured her it was a very nice picture. Finally! The moment had arrived! The assistant came out and called her name! Clutching her picture tightly and smiling brightly she followed the assistant to the room. A couple minutes later her beloved dentist arrived. She proudly presented her picture to him. He was most impressed and pleased!
Throughout her visit, with her mouth wide open as she was getting her fillings, she managed to have us all giggling along with her, as usual, and her dentist shaking his head in amazement, telling her what a "trooper" she is and what a great kid she is and telling me how lucky I was to have such a great kid and mentioning she must have gotten her bravery from her Dad...Hey! I tried! LOL Yeah, no doubt about it, she doesn't get her bravery from me! At one point she gazed up at him and said, "I like you!" The smile on his face was priceless! He thanked her, told her how much that meant to him and told her he liked her too!
Once he was finished with her I could tell he was most anxious to have a little chat with her. He told her how she was his most favorite patient of all and, he told her, since this would be their last visit for awhile he had something special for her. He also had a little something for her Brother so he wouldn't feel left out.
He had, during their prior visit's, inquired as to her favorite thing. Of course that was "Clifford, the Big Red Dog". He had gone out in search of Clifford items. He had filled a gift bag (pink) with 2 Clifford coloring books and a Clifford book. He wasn't able to find any more Clifford items so he rounded out the gift bag with a very cool paddle ball, pink (her favorite color) with disney princesses on it, a water "puzzle" thing (way fun!) , twistables crayons and a beautiful glittery wand (with pink, of course!) complete with a really long streamer. Nathan was given a smaller, green bag with a couple rubber dinosaurs and a water maze of his own. Both children were thrilled!
As I was buckling her into her car seat she looked at me and said, "My dentist must really like me!" ...Yeah, I kinda think he does She is currently planning her Thank You note, complete with picture of course!He did tell me that every year he tries to choose a child that has been a great patient and gift them. He said there was no doubt about it that Lindsay was that patient for this year.
My next appointment is the 6th. I am nervous but not nearly so much as I was prior to my last appointment. Lindsay is very happy for me because I get to visit with her dentist :) I am happy for her, and most grateful to her dentist that she will grow up with good memories and no fear of dentists.
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