The Pediatric Dentist... Then and Now

OK.. When we (and I mean my brothers and I) were little, we made the twice yearly trip to the dreaded pediatric dentist. I always dreaded it the most because I ALWAYS had a cavity or some other problem that would be discovered at the visit. My older brother was always complemented for his beautiful and perfect cavity free set of teeth. My younger brother was somewhere between the two of us. Anyways, the visit would start with the hygenist. All 3 of us would pile into a tiny room with one chair and wait our turn at torture. The woman would brush our teeth and then put the disclosing tablet in to show where the plaque was hiding. We would then get a scolding for not brushing well (well at least I would and maybe younger brother) The next part was the worst... flossing.. This is when she would pull out our report cards which had a diagram of all of the teeth. She would mark red lines between all of the teeth the bled during the torture flossing. Mine had red lines between every tooth. Next, we would all head to the big Dentist room that had three dental chairs lined up. The dentist would come out in his plaid golf pants and white coat and hum while he examined each of our mouths with his little pick scraper tool. Sometimes, he would say things like, "If you move, I'll cut you". I am not kidding. Pure torture! At the end of the visit, the lady would walk us back out to our Mom in the waiting room and present our "report cards" to her. The dentist would even assign a grade to us. It was AWFUL!! now... fastforward to 2009.. here is what my kids experienced at their recent dentist appointment:

We walk into a colorul lobby with a huge fishtank. The kids are instantly enamored with all of the "nemos". They call our name and we head into the office. Each kid is led to a table that has just about every cartoon character and animal toothbrush on it. They each get to choose one and then proceed to the dentist chair. Each takes a turn having his/her teeth cleaned. The sweet hygenist asks each to choose each of the following:
1. Choose a flavor of toothpaste (I think there were like 7 flavors)
2. Choose a flavor of floss
3. Choose a flavor of "vitamins" (flouride treatment)

In addition to this, they had to choose:
4. A toothbrush to take home (mentioned above)
5. A balloon color
6. A toothpaste to take home

Finally, when we left, they were each given a goody bag with the items they had chosen to take home and stickers, tattoos, and other little knick knacks. Also, when we checked out...they were each given a token to use in the "prize machine". This was a machine similar to those quarter "bubble" prize stands that you see in grocery stores with plastic rings, stickers, etc.. There were like 8 different types of toys to choose from. When we walked out.. it looked like we were leaving a carnival.. balloons, prizes, goody bags. A bit different than my experience as a child.

Ashburn Snow Day

Last Monday we awoke to about 9 inches of snow! The kids were super excited so we suited up and headed out. Everything looks so beautiful with a blanket of snow. Today as I type this, the high is supposed to be 75 degrees so our March snow will be all gone by the end of today. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

Wacky Hair Day DejaVu

So Abbey's class had wacky hair day a few weeks after the others. She wanted to wear the same Raggedy Ann wig that Allie wore. She was super excited and bounced all the way from the car to her classroom with a grin from ear to ear!