Ya’ll, taking kids to the dentist is like pulling teeth. Anyone else have kids who are allergic to the dentist?
The last few times we have taken Kinsley to the dentist, it has been quite an experience – like tears, pleading, and holding her down kind of experience. I thought that as she got older, it would get better. Well, folks, 5 is not the golden year for us.
We gave her plenty of warning that we would be going to the dentist, we have read books about the dentist, and we have talked about why we go to the dentist. This year, we even played the “you have to show Emerson what to do and how to be a big girl” card. That worked for about 2 seconds. But as soon as she laid down in the chair, she started flipping out. And then she said that she wanted Emerson to go first.
Emerson, bless her sweet, fearless heart, said okay and jumped right up in the chair. She sat there through the whole procedure, went with the strange nurse to get x-rays done by herself (since I was occupied holding Kinsley down), and then climbed up in the chair for the doctor to look at her teeth (again, by herself…since I was occupied pleading with the 5 year old to get x-rays). She never even batted an eye.
Kinsley, meanwhile, had to sit in my lap, had to have her hands held down by me while the hygienist got started, and then refused to get x-rays because she freaked out (like “someone is poking my whole body with needles” freaked out) every time the bite down piece got close to her gums. So, guess who didn’t get x-rays?
The funniest part of it all – I guess maybe the only funny part since the rest was more like torture than humor, was that Emerson kept hearing me tell Kinsley that she HAD to get her teeth cleaned or they would all fall out, and so for the last few days, she has asked me repeatedly (while opening her mouth wide) if her teeth are still there. Bless it.
In other happenings, little man has been into EVERYTHING! Like put it out of reach and he can still get it – that kind of getting into everything. We have a gate on the top of our stairs so he didn’t tumble down the stairs, but he hadn’t been trying to climb up the stairs, so we hadn’t put the gate there yet. I noticed after lunch the other day that I hadn’t heard from him in a while. Walking around the corner, I notice something out the corner of my eye as I walk by the stairs.
Oh yes, he did. He was halfway up the stairs. After taking a picture (yes, not the smartest parenting decision) and quietly walking up so as not to scare him and have him fall backwards, I swooped him up and set him back on solid ground. And then I put the gate up 🙂 Praise the Lord for protecting him!