Day 30: Pearly Whites

After school today Mac had his second-ever visit to the dentist. Last spring his first visit went swimmingly; he didn't make a peep or move an inch. I presumed this afternoon's appointment would be the same, but I underestimated the three-year-old mind.

Mac knew just enough to be a bit squirmy in the chair (bless that hygienist's heart!) but overall it was more of a sitcom episode than a true disaster.

He was especially particular about the shades they offered to shade his delicate peepers from the overhead lights. First we tried on the blue pair, then the black, then the blue again. Somewhere in between I caught a pic, and it captures the essence of Mac perfectly:

Mr. Cool

He even pointed out the "purple paper towel" that "keeps my shirt from getting dirty" had fallen off. He reminded the hygienist that "you said I haf to have one of those on me, you a-member that? Well, it fell. You think you should probwee get me a new one now, please?"

Half of me was mortified as he sat straight up, waiting for the hygienist to comply to his marvelously high standards before carrying on with the cleaning. The other part was tickled to death at the first-child fastidiousness he has inherited; the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, after all.

When Mac was tired of the cleaning process, he told the hygienist she had "just onnnnnnne minute and then we hafta do something else. Like get that toy you said I could have out of the toy box."

Thankfully all she needed was that brief time period in which to work her magic, and the dentist swooped in to give her own seal of approval. After a nine-minute picture-taking ordeal in which Mac blinked just at the moment the sweet-but-not-a-photographer employee snapped a shot, we were back in the lobby.


Mac asked to play for a bit, as we'd barely walked in the door before being taken to an exam room. (A doctor's office with no wait!)

So Mac bypassed the toy trunk and played in the waiting room instead. Now his teeth are pearly white and, in the name of his oral health, I'll be consuming 98% of his Halloween candy. The sacrifices I make for this kid...

*This post is day 30 in my 31 Days of What Matters. And it went up on time, unlike most every other post this month. Booyah!