Because Marcelo already has dental insurance coverage, I decided to take him in for his first check up much earlier than Sofia. It seemed like a good idea at the time when I was at the dentist office with Sofia at her last check up. However, the night before his appointment, I couldn't understand what made me think that would be a good idea, considering his recent behaviour at his last well child visit with the pediatrician. He almost had to be sedated and strapped down to the table. What was I thinking setting him up with a dental appointment at the young tender age of
two terrible two.
Well, eventually he'd have to go anyway so I decided to grit my teeth and go through with it. Ray came too as this was a big event for Sofia and we were both in attendance for her. We try to honor the
big event-ness of it all with Marcelo too, even if it is the second time around.
Everything was good for the first little while. He gladly obliged with having his picture taken for the record and the no cavity club, giving a great big smile and offering up the "Cheese" without even being asked. Then it was onto the x-ray chair which he thought might be a fun event too until the technician started approaching him with the unidentified objects (x-ray films) that he immediately concluded were dangerous and threateningly getting too close to his face. At this point, he started protesting and it was clear he was not having any of it. So we skipped the x-rays. Not really necessary at this age anyway.
Next, we entered the room were he spotted the TVs on the ceiling right away and was again mesmerized with the novelty and promise of a good time. He readily laid down on the exam chair. We made him comfortable with a pillow under his bum and he proceeded to start watching "Bolt". The tech fitted him with earphones and he was good. She tried to brush his teeth but he started protesting at that as well. As we waited for the dentist to come see him, he was enthralled in the movie and suddenly his entire body shuddered violently as he must have been startled by a loud noise through the earphones. It was pretty funny/cute/sad.
He sort of allowed the dentist to look at his teeth even when he was picking at them with the evil hook, but started shedding the tears once the dentist began to brush his teeth. He didn't get away with it though, the dentist continued anyway declaring it would be even easier to brush his teeth if he was crying because his mouth would be open. Hmm. The exam was pretty quick though and Marcelo immediately recovered once he was offered a basket of treasures to choose from. He didn't hesitate for a second when he saw the ball and snatched it immediately before anyone had the chance to pull the basket back.
After the exam, we let him play in the waiting room as he hadn't gotten to do that when we arrived. Hopefully, his first dental visit is recorded as good experience in his brain, but we won't know until the next time.
Our trick or treating was fairly limited. We went to Tia Marcela's house, a few houses around her neighborhood and to Abuelo's house. Marcelo quickly got the gist of the free candy thing. And was very interested in opening everything up. It was a bit torturous to keep telling him he couldn't eat any of the chocolate ones (due to his allergies), but he was perfectly content when I would find a smarties or other candy purely consisting of sugar.
