"Quick Shut the Doors!!"

Yesterday was the big day - Walker's first trip to the dentist. We went to the Tooth Zone - a recommendation from a friend. One thing I can say for certain - the dentist has surely changed since I was a kid... We arrived there and were instantly overwhelmed with the bells and whistles. In the front of the building is a gigantic system of tunnels, climbing equipment and slides - just like McDonald's. There were little kid cars and a movie playing below. In the back - old style video games that were all free, and a WII of course. Walker thought it was fantastic. They had a plush waiting area for parents with gourmet coffee and magazines. As it was his first visit, they took him back to the area where he gets his teeth cleaned, while I got a tour of the place and then the chance to sit through a power point presentation on their practice. During the presentation I could hear Walker talking to the hygeniest in the other room almost the whole time. At one point, I thought I heard him crying pretty hard but I couldn't be sure. As soon as the power point was over, the Dentist came in - "Dr. Kent". He said, "Well Walker has 4 cavities - why do you think that is?" Wow - good question. If I knew - perhaps I would have tried to avoid them?!?! You can be sure we'll be cutting back on sugar and brushing away as much as we can. Particularly because now he has to get them filled!!

He seemed to like the dentist however and because I couldn't go back with him, of course I interviewed him about it afterwards. He said, "It was good Mom". Later in the day he told me that the dentist had taken pictures of his teeth. I asked him how it went and he said, "Not good. It hurt". I asked him what he did when they were taking the pictures and he told me he'd cried. Of course, I realized that this was the time that I heard him crying back there, and I was hopeful that they had comforted him. I asked him, "What did they do when you cried?" He said, "They yelled, 'Quick everybody shut the doors!'" OH!!!!! Horrible!!!! Hopefully this isn't what he remembers about the dentist. We'll be getting those 4 cavities filled soon, and the dentist wants to give him laughing gas. This was so not what I was hoping for.