Zoe had a dental appointment today. She’s only had one other, right when she turned one, that wasn’t really much more than sitting in the chair and having the doc look in to see that some teeth had erupted. This time was FOR REAL, and at a nice pediatric dental office. She went with me to my appointment Monday to see what went on, and behaved wonderfully sitting in her chair coloring and watching the TV. Today, however, she was not in the mood when we arrived and screamed about it. I told her if she was uncomfortable at all during the appointment I had the power to tell the dentist to stop. This calmed her enough into the door, but she broke down again when her name was called which ended quickly with the promise of a balloon for good behavior. The hygenist was awesome with her…made sure cartoons were on the TV, showed her all the tools and had her touch them, found little sunglasses for her to wear, and had fun riding the chair up and down to get started. To my surprise she actually got a full cleaning – starting with the ‘spinning toothbrush’ (polisher) which Zoe actually loved. She said it tickled and laughed while the lady was using it. I hate that thing since it sounds drill-like and makes my teeth gritty, but she loved it. After that she enjoyed the water-squirter, but would not allow ‘Mr. Thirsty’ the vaccuum hose do-dad near her mouth. I guess swallowing the gritty polish is OK. She liked the look of the hook-scraper and mirror on a stick. Then she enjoyed hearing the hygenist ‘count’ her teeth (she was actually mildly scraping each one). It was great. After that, she went with the hygenist and another assistant to get 4 x-rays. I remained at the chair since, well, I’m pregnant. I could hear them chatting, and she seemed fine though I guess she squirmed a bit. The dentist then came to the chair to go over the fuzzy x-rays on the computer with us. It was cool to see her adult teeth already lined up behind her baby teeth; they are a bit squashed though and may need a short bought of braces. He talked about the thumb-sucking, and it’s apparently only superficially moving her baby teeth as of now but should still be stopped because there is a LIST of other complications that can arise. Zoe was intrigued by the x-rays and the dentist’s warnings about the thumb. He then took the super-pointy-hook-scraper and poked inside each tooth, which Zoe tolerated once more with ease. After that was the fun stuff! She got to pick a sticker, a green balloon, a toy from the little chest, and got a Certificate of Bravery with a free small ice cream from Chick-Fil-A. Plus, she chose a packet with an Ariel toothbrush, kiddo toothpaste, and a flosser. The hygenist showed us how to use the flosser and this evening Zoe insisted on flossing both my and Bryan’s teeth with it before bed. She is very serious about it, too. Now, when we remind her, “thumb! remember the dentist” she pulls that thumb out quickly.