Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the dentist we go!

We had a Family Outing this morning to visit our friendly neighbourhood dentist. Oh, what fun it was.

In the days leading up to this magical event, I'd been telling the kids how AWESOME and FUN it would be, how they'd get to ride the chair! And show the dentist our teeth! And pick out a sticker! I even went so far as to tell Matthew that going to see the dentist was even MORE fun than going to see Santa! I was practically shaking pompoms about it to get everyone excited, and mostly to try to avoid the limp-noodle effect when we tried to remove them from their car seats to head into the office.


It worked! They totally bought it! They both went happily in the car, excited about our Family Outing. Emily said, "See Santa?" and then shook her head no. "No Santa. See dentist! Dentist say, 'Ho Ho Ho!'". Hmm. Well, not usually, but maybe if we ask nicely?

We filed in there a full 5 minutes early, and proceeded to rummage through our purses (well, mine) and pockets (his) for insurance information and health cards. By the way we were scrambling to locate these things you'd think we'd never done this before. "What? Insurance? Cards? Huh??"

Matthew was up first and after the requisite tears and running away, he hopped up into the chair like a champ. Okay, so it took a threat of his sister going first for him to get in there but, meh. Whatever works, right? He got his teeth cleaned and polished like a pro, did everything the hygienist asked and dutifully opened wider when the dentist came to 'count his teeth'. I was a proud mama! (And tried to avoid the question as to why he hasn't had a cleaning yet... umm... because we're bad parents?)

Then it was Emily's turn. WELL. She wasn't having ANY of it. She was quite pleased with all the stickers and the new toothbrush... but sit in that chair? Open her mouth? Are you kidding me?? She screamed and cried and flailed about as if we were attempting to strap her into a torture machine. We did get to 'brush' her teeth (sortof) and the dentist wrangled her into submission long enough to count her teeth, so I count it as a success. She was laughing and playing in the waiting room a few minutes later, so hopefully she's not permanently damaged by the experience.

Now I'm just wondering if I've played the "It's super fun, trust me!" card one too many times, and the kids will never believe me when I tell them how AWESOME something's going to be. Maybe next time I'll just tell them we're going to see Santa.