Typo, right? A gratefulness post about dentists? Listen, children, to the story…
So I get this text from my daughter Liz this morning: “Can you look after the kids while they go to the dentist?” Yikes, I think. But the follow-up text explains that they have separate appointments and she wants me to look after one while the other one is being worked on. “Sure,” I say.
Until now, the twins have been going to a pediatric dental specialist. This time, however, it was a regular dentist who didn’t have any particular specialty, like kids: he worked on everybody. The twins were nervous when they arrived but they were trying really hard to be brave.
First one up marched in, firmly hanging onto Mom. She had two fillings to be done, so there was going to be freezing involved. I took the other home to Liz’s for some fun stuff together while we waited for her turn. We had a great time. I’ve been teaching them the first bit of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” (take THAT, spell checker!) by ear, so we spent most of the time picking that out on the piano and polishing it. We had sixteen bars pretty much nailed by the time we had to head back to the dentist’s office.
Out comes number one, numb from nose to jawline but confident and cheerful. “Did it hurt a LOT?” asked her sister. “No, not really. Just a prick when they put the needle in but I hardly felt that!”
I took her home and we played Mario Kart Wii (I suck at it). Not a word about the dentist, except continuing reports on the degree of numbness of nose and jawline and her inability to drink except with a straw. And sure enough, when her sister came home she too was confident and chatty and cheerful.
Today’s gratefulness points definitely go to two brave girls and to a most gentle dentist.