my first dentist

pockets, originally uploaded by Kristy and Eva.

eva had her first dentist appointment today, and it was a big success. dr. babot says she has lovely teeth, they're clean and no cavities or other bad spots to watch. perfect! the only snag (and larry's going to love this one) is that she has an overbite, which will persist with her adult teeth, so it's likely that braces are in her future -- just like mama. (darn, we were hoping she'd get larry's lovely teeth, not my troublesome ones.) oh, and she has a thick wazzitcalled, lip frenulum? she had a frenotomy (of her tongue frenulum), but apparently it's not necessarily related. the dentist said she'll likely grow into it and it won't be a problem, especially since the aforementioned braces will take care of any spaces in her front teeth. (and mom, you can't even take the blame, she said the odds of it being genetic and skipping a generation is unlikely.) but back to the main point -- she has healthy strong teeth! (by how relieved i am, i guess i was subconsiously worried...?)

and how is it that we know all this information about my 22 month old? because she sat (on my lap) in the big chair and didn't get upset -- at all -- even when the chair was layed all the way back. she opened her mouth right up for the hygenist, and allowed her to polish them up with the spinning polisher thing, and even agreed to the water and suction. wow! while we waited for dr. babot, we played with some novel toys and books (a big benefit of a pediatric practice, i'm now realizing). then eva crawled right back up onto my lap in the big chair and, violet in hand and seeming quite serious but perfectly calm, opened her mouth wide over and over while her teeth were examined. she even cooperated by tipping her head this way and that for a better view. dr. babot and the hygenist seemed very impressed that she was so cooperative at her age -- and mama was pretty surprised herself. however, we'd been talking it up for a week at home, discussing the chair and the light and the tools and practicing opening wide and looking at each other's teeth, so maybe that helped a little. ("eva going see densis!", she was announcing all morning.)

the only negative of all this cooperation was that it actually cost me more since she consented to more proceedures! because guess what? my brilliant logic backfired on me -- when we did the insurance forms, i elected not to enroll my newborn in dental (as she had no teeth), but with my post-partum brain i then promptly forgot i'd done this. so, we didn't enroll her last open period, so now we have to wait until open enrollment in january. not a big deal, but i find it very amusing. my optimization schemes that larry always teases me about sometimes backfire.

hurray for healthy strong teeth, and eva even got to pick out a new purple toothbrush to take home. you can't beat that. papa's at "the office" today and tomorrow for some in-town all day meetings. my mini experiment at being a stay-at-home-mom the way most people do it, without onsite backup. we'll really test this when i take eva along to my hair appointment in a few hours!

update: i don't know what's up with all the crazy cooperation today, but she sat on my lap through my entire hair appointment, both shampoo (when i couldn't entertain her) and the cut and blow-drying. jennifer even put a black drape on her, it was too cute. i barely even had to work at it, she just sat there in her cute pigtails and smiled and chatted away -- wow, having a toddler is so easy! (or so it would seem from that little adventure, right? suuure it is....)