Say Aaaahhhh!

Ben went to the dentist today. Really for the first time. He went when he turned one and sat on my lap while the doc took a brief glance at his few teeth he had then. So really this was his first time. And he was a champ! The dentist and dental assistant kept going on and on about how good he was. My child loves doctors and dentists. It's strange but boy am I thankful. Makes it so much easier. He climbed right up into the chair eagerly waiting for his dentist to arrive. While he got pretty quiet and hesitated opening his mouth real wide for her, he let her look at all of his teeth and even clean some plaque off with the scrapper. He however, was not a fan of the polisher and only let her do a few teeth before he was done. She said she just wanted to get him acquainted with it and it wasn't necessary to do till his next checkup in six months.

I really like the dentist we found. Not only is it in walking distance to our home, and the appointment was 100% covered by our awesome insurance, she was really great with him. She began the appointment by having Ben practice brushing the teeth of a stuffed dragon, and then the dragon squirted water at him, which Ben thought was pretty cool. She showed him all of her tools and what she would be doing with them, usually practicing on his hand first, so that he felt more comfortable.

I was told that I was doing a good job brushing, but that I need to start flossing his teeth. Usually baby teeth have spaces between them so this is not necessary, but Ben's teeth are right up against each other like adult teeth (which is why in my opinion his teeth are so pretty), so I have to floss them like adult teeth. I would just like to know one thing: how on EARTH am I supposed to do that. We gave it two tries today and I could barely get my fingers with the floss inside his tiny mouth. And after getting in between two teeth one time, Ben was through. I guess we will both just try our best. But overall it was a great checkup and it made me so proud of my big boy!