Lainey's First Trip to the Dentist

There are so many firsts to keep track of in the lives of your children.  First smiles, steps, words, experiences, etc.  Most of those are exciting and thrilling to observe as parents.  Then there are the firsts that make you a little apprehensive.  I knew I needed to schedule Lainey's first dentist appointment but I put it off for a little while.  Now, I've never had a cavity (knock on wood) but I will admit that I do not love going to the dentist.  You would think I'd have a reason, but I really don't (except for the time I chipped my front tooth when I was in like 2nd grade and when I went in to get it fixed they had to sand it so it was smooth and that really scared me and I ran out of the room to my mom in the waiting room! ha!)  I would rather go to any other kind of doctor than go to the dentist.  

Not only was I nervous because of my own fear, but anyone who knows Lainey knows she is a bit, what we like to call, particular.  I need to start a list of all of her (ridiculous) preferences but I'll just say that she can be a little difficult to coerce or convince sometimes.  

Luckily, I knew that I would be putting Lainey in great hands when I chose to make an appointment at Des Moines Children's Dentistry.  Thanks to Facebook, I knew about this practice which was started by a friend of mine from college and her husband.  I called and made Lainey's appointment and I had about a week to prep her and get her excited!

If you check out their website, you will see what a great space they have created there.  It did not take Lainey very long to warm up to her surroundings.  We got an office tour and went back to a private exam room (since she's still pretty young and it was our first visit).

I had specifically prayed that Lainey would be calm and collected during her appointment and that she wouldn't be scared (IE hysterical or clinging to me or...etc.).  She did AWESOME.  We practiced opening her mouth nice and wide a lot before in the past week which you can see above.

Dr. Rachael looked over her teeth, counted and cleaned them all while keeping Lainey in the loop about what she was doing and holding a conversation with me about some do's and don't's for caring for my kid's teeth.  All of that literally took less than 10 minutes!

They had a plethora of prize boxes to choose from and Lainey made a bee line for these cool shades.  This is her cheesy, I'm so excited smile.  I wish you could see her eyes because when she pulls this smile out, her eyes drift off away from the camera and it's so funny to me.  This picture says a lot about how wonderful Dr. Rachael is because Lainey does NOT warm up to strangers very quickly, especially if we aren't in our own home.  We are excited for Lainey's next appointment in July,

She was beyond thrilled with her new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss picks.  We have been doing A LOT of brushing!

My big girl chose Chik-Fil-A for our lunch date, which I happily agreed to.  I was so stinking proud of her I would have taken her for steak and seafood if she had asked (she wouldn't, I'm just saying... she did so well, I was so proud!).  I will say that I'm not quite as confident that Wyatt will be as wonderful of a patient as Lainey was and I know that inevitably, there may or may not be some traumatic dental or orthodontic visits in my future with our kids but for now, this really excited me!  Hooray for clean, healthy teeth!