Friday, April 18, 2008

Open Wide and Say "Bu Yao Zhua!"

William has certainly had his fill of dentists' offices lately. Yesterday, he got dragged along on Andrew's visit. This morning, he came with me to my dentist.

He did quite well sitting in his stroller for the first 10 minutes while the hygienist took x-rays of my mouth and scraped my teeth with that nails-on-chalkboard picky tool. Surfboard crackers, work your magic!

Unfortunately, once the crackers were gone, he started to get fussy. At the same time, the dentist entered to begin the examination. Hearing William's grumping, the receptionist, the hygienist, and the dental assistant all flocked into the tiny room to try to calm him down. I didn't feel like giving them the "He's newly adopted and as the parent, I really ought to be the one to handle the soothing so that he can build trust and see me as his perpetual caregiver, yadda, yadda, yadda" speech.

So, I plucked him out of his stroller, smiled sweetly at the well-intentioned ladies, and resumed the exam with William sitting on my stomach. At first, he amused himself with my Dixie rinse cup, then he started batting at all the surrounding dental appliances. I did my best to pry his eager hands off all the wires and tools while trying to lie still with my mouth open. Thankfully, my teeth were problem-free and the dentist was done with his review in less than two minutes.

Whew. I'll have to remember to brush and floss well so that next time's visit will also be a quick one. It's a good thing we won't have to return for another 6 months.

(Speaking of teeth, Mr. William now has two more pearly whites breaking through his top gums. He is quickly on his way to losing that baby beaver look. In just 4 more months, he'll either be reclining compliantly or screaming bloody murder in the dentist's chair himself.)

1 comment:

Amy from Occupation: Mommy said...

He is having all kinds of exciting experiences!

I think S really enjoyed playing with William last night. He is a cutie!