Celeste's First-Ever Dentist Appointment!

Today was a special milestone for Celeste...she had her very first dentist appointment! Lorelai handled her first checkup a year ago pretty well, so I thought it was time to try Celeste out in the dentist's chair. She was a real trooper and never complained the whole time, even though she got a bit fidgety on occasion. They aren't in the picture, but the dentist gave Celeste some cute kid sunglasses to wear throughout the cleaning, so her eyes wouldn't get bothered by the bright lights. It was pretty cute!

Lorelai had her checkup at the same time, and everything went well. However, I will have to go in later (alone) for a separate consultation with the dentist. This was a new dentist's office for us (since Nate's insurance changed a few months ago), and my overall impressions are...mixed. The dentist seems like a tough old grandma; she's a little leathery, but had a nice smile and was very kind to my kids...when they were in the dentist's chair. She was able to clearly explain everything to Celeste, show off all her tools, and treat her very gently.

Whenever the kids were running free, though, she looked very nervous & out of sorts...probably because the decor of this office was definitely not child-friendly. There were lots of breakable knick-knacks set everywhere in this office, at kids'-eye level. As you can imagine, Aurora wasn't very popular here! In fact, the dentist tried to pull me aside for a consultation regarding each of the kids, but because Aurora was wiggling so much on my lap, she just put a stop to it abruptly and told me, "You'll just have to come back another time to do this"--presumably, without my kids. Grr. In addition, every time I opened my mouth to tell Celeste to do something during the checkup, the dentist looked up and loudly told me, "You can't talk when I'm cleaning her teeth. I'm the one who needs to be instructing her, and I don't want to confuse the situation." Yikes!

So, the jury is still out on this dentist's office; she does seem like a very nice lady (the girls both liked her fine), but also a control freak. I will have to leave Aurora at home for a while so I don't give the dentist heart failure (and so we don't destroy her lovely office)! But it all worked out in the end, and everyone got a new toothbrush and toy. Look at all those beautiful teeth!