First, a little background:
Noah's feelings about brushing his teeth seem to change on a whim. The first two and a half years of his life he LOVED his toothbrush. I first introduced it to him at 10months in an attempt to keep him from rolling over and wiggling around while putting his jammies on before bed. At that point, he would just chew on it, but it still got him used to the idea of having it in his mouth.
He was still interested in his bristle-y buddy when we moved it to the bathroom and added a little toothpaste. Even his doctor was surprised to hear Noah was always eager to clean his petite pearly whites. But about three months ago something changed his feelings - I wish I knew what it was, and brushing his teeth became a nightly battle neither of us looked forward to. He HATED it and threw a fit every night. Until...one day a few weeks ago, during one of our ritual Battle of the Brushes. On this night, he had a little icecream after dinner and soon after finishing we went downstairs to start our bedtime routine. When the time came to brush his teeth, Noah put his hands over his mouth and started shaking his head (like he had every night for the past three months) and I then told him firmly "Noah, you
have to brush the ice cream off your teeth!" I have no idea what made this idea so appealing to him (nor do I really care), but ever since I just tell him it is time to brush the ice cream off his teeth and he usually gets right to work...regardless of whether he had ice cream or not.
So after making that much progress just a few weeks ago, I did NOT want to undo it with a nightmare of a trip to the dentist.
Usually I plan something like this out very well. I think of all possible scenarios and make sure I have a solution for each ready. Well, unfortunately I ran out of time so instead I told him we had to go to the dentist so they could 'tickle our teeth.' Not only did I not prepare him well, but, I had also scheduled
my appointment at the same time
and took Millie with me. WHAT WAS I THINKING??
As I sat in the waiting room...waiting - 20 mins after my scheduled appointment time (which was now just 15mins before our usual lunchtime and 45 mins before naptime) I sent Jon a quick email to tell him that I was totally regretting making our appointments together, why didn't I get a sitter for Millie, why did I schedule it for this time of day, why hadn't I prepared Noah better, why didn't I bring a snack for Millie!! I began to panic. How did I think this was going to work? Did I really think Noah would sit still like a perfect angel in a chair while I had my teeth cleaned? Did I think Millie would sit next to him in the stroller without any of her blood curdling shrieks (whether she was happy or not)? And then, how would I be able to keep Millie busy while I acted as a straight jacket for Noah when it was his turn? Beads of sweat were beginning to form on my brow and I was about 2 mins from throwing a huge, embarassing fit in the waiting room and storming out.
Then... all of a sudden through the door came the most wonderful sight...my amazing husband! Daddy to the rescue! He had received my email and aparently didn't want to receive a tear-filled phonecall from me with screaming kids in the background and possibly a message from the dentist's office saying we were no longer welcome back, so he took a break from his super busy day to bail me out. I wouldn't have made it through that appointment without him! He kept both monsters busy while I had my turn (which took about 45mins) and stayed for the beginning of Noah's appointment to make sure all went well. Thanks to him, all went well and Noah was all smiles when we left and LOVES brushing his teeth!!
