Then I took my kids for a visit. Yikes. Now I am afraid. Very afraid.
It all ended well (unless you consider one cavity and one appointment for palate extension not well), but let’s just say when I got out to the car not only was I shocked that it had only been one hour (it felt like 6) but I also felt like I had been run over by a car.
I have used the phrase, “I am drained” before, but until today I had no idea what that really meant.
I only had two kids there but between the girl asking sixty thousand questions (with the air-sucker thingy in her mouth-mind you) and the boy touching EVERYTHING in the office a la Mr. Peepers from Saturday Night Live, I had to do some serious holding together of my emotions and my hands that were itching to grab and shake some sense into each of them. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the boy wanted to watch his sister get a panoramic X-ray. It didn’t take long for him to burst into (loud -wailing) tears. In his defense it does look a bit like an alien brain sucker so the fear was totally understandable.
I think the worst part was that I was foolish enough to be caught off guard. She has been before. He was so excited to go that I thought all my pre-planning and explaining and warning had been a success. I thought, we’d be in and out and rummaging through our goodie bags in now time.
Hah.
Really, when will I learn?
The good news is we all survived and I think they might even let us come back.
The kids are now excitedly playing with all the loot they got as reward for coming and I am pretty sure I just heard the boy SHARE his lost tooth treasure chest AND the Spidey Sticker with his baby brother.
Now that is a payoff that makes it worth it (eh-almost).
P.S. Looking for more parenting guidance and tips for self-care? Check out From Chaos to Calm a guided training to help you feel better in this tough season.
Palate extension? Oh no, is she on the path to braces?
I'm sorry that your experience was not so great. I took J for the first time this September! I was so nervous about going. Plus i had the younger one with me too. Anyway, the only preparation I did was tell him we were going and they were going to clean and count his teeth. They told me they would explain the rest. Well, it surprisingly went really well! They actually took J in by himself and they would call me if they needed me, if not, they would get me when he was done. At the end they told me he was great and he had a cute picture with the dentist. Hopefully this wasn't some fluke!! I'm sure next tim will be much better for you!!! Those kids are the best!!
xxoo,
Nicole