No Fear of the Dentist Here July 19, 2010
Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Parenthood, Photography, Princess Hannah, Thoughts, Utah , 2commentsGoing to the dentist is usually the most traumatizing experience of our young lives. Most of us have a physical reaction to the sound and smell of THE DRILL.
Oh. My. I think I’m going to barf right now.
Last week, I took Hannah to the dentist to get a cavity filled. You know what I was thinking, “LUCKY ME!”
She had to get ONE cavity filled. One cavity mind you.
When we walked into the office, Hannah was elated to find toys, and people to talk to. When they called our name, Hannah skipped over to the dental assistant and promptly said, “My name is Hannah!”
She then hopped right into the chair and crossed her legs, settling back into a comfortable position. I kept thinking, “Oh my, she has NO IDEA what’s in store!” And then I started to panic, thinking that I WOULD be the parent she looked at as the one who deceived her! The one who took her to her doom! The one who ruined her sweet innocent life! Oh my heck! Why was I on dentist duty? There are two of us! Hello? Where is David when dental duty calls?
The dental assistant told Hannah she needed to take a picture of her teeth, and Hannah smiled and said, “My mommy is a photo-grapher! She takes TOO MANY pictures!” She then held up all ten fingers and blinked them several times to convey her message.
Looking at her x-rays, Hannah needed FOUR cavities filled.
Seriously, I was all, could you just hand me the gas and put me out for this session? Heaven help this dentist.
The dentist walked in, chatted with Hannah, put the gas on her, and went to town. She watched Cars (the movie) on the flat screen panel on the ceiling . . . relaxed as a cool cat.
Quiet as can be, and giggling at the movie. Not once did she un-cross her legs from her comfy position. After the dentist gave her a couple of shots, the dentist asked her a question and she said, “No thank you.”
WHAT? Where is the trauma? Where is the fear? Is she not going to grow up hating and fearing dentists like the rest of the world?
40 minutes later, her mouth was as good as new.
As I walked out to settle my $995 bill, the girl behind the desk told me I was not going to be charged, and that the services were complimentary.
Oh. My.
I don’t fear or hate the dentist anymore. In fact, I quite like him! Thank you Mr. Dentist for taking pity on my life as the wife of a recently graduated medical student, and thank you Hannah for making his job so easy and tipping the scale in our favor.
Gosh, and I was just starting to think that life basically sucked and that most people were selfish jerks.
Well, shut my mouth.
Speaking of mouths . . . here are some notable comments from Hannah in the last few weeks:
“Why Did the Easter Rabbit bring me a broken movie?” (The DVD she got for Easter is scratched.) He SHOULDN’T DO THAT!
“Mom! You can just drop me off! You don’t have to stay!” (I took her to visit the kindergarten class my sister teaches and Hannah was mortified that I was hanging around. She totally thinks she’s as big as all the other kids, and who taught her it’s not cool to have your mom go to school with you?!)
“Mom, if you told me a lie, we would have to talk about it.”
“My tears are too wet! I can’t even talk!”
“Mommy, if you die, then daddy will marry a really nice step-mother.” (WHAT THE HECK?!?! David and I have NO idea where she came up with this.)
“I’m not a doctor. Only daddy is a doctor. I’m just a super hero.”
“Mommy! We can’t forget to pray! Heavenly Father will be so sad if he doesn’t hear my sweet little voice! Mommy! YOU. SHOULD. NOT. FORGET!” (I almost forgot her night time prayer during one bed time routine. Heaven help me to never forget again!)
“Look! My tithing built that temple!” (Hannah, confident the Draper temple was built on the 80 cents she paid in tithing last month.)
“Mommy are you not perfect? Are you just a parent?”
“The life-jacket-police said I was too little to go down the water slide by myself. Why did they say that? I’m big enough, and I have BIG muscles!”
“Daddy . . . is this Colbie Callet singing?” (Listening to a song on the radio, which indeed was Colbie Callet)
“Waking you guys up is my biggest job. IT. IS. REALLY. HARD. It makes me so tired, that I have to go back to sleep!” (Hannah explaining the disadvantages of being an early riser.)
“I want to get on Barbie.com! Oh! Oh! And Nickjr.com too!” (WHAT?! Maybe no more TV ads until you’re 18!)
