A Tooth for a Tooth

{I expect money from the tooth fairy -- $2 at least}

The Tooth Fairy in this household is notoriously unreliable.  She forgets to visit 90% of the time, and in most cases (thankfully), the kids forget about it, too.  But not last night.  Hahahahaha.  Grace left that post it note on the lamp in their room last night, to ensure we'd be reminded, after 3 days had gone by since she lost her most recent tooth.  I have to say I laughed pretty hard at her chutzpah when I read the note last night, and thought it was the perfect foreshadowing for today's fun-filled adventure with Alex at the pediatric dentist.

{Snuggling with nervous energy/excitement in the waiting room before heading back to get his work done.}

Lots and LOTS of prayers went into prepping Alex for today, and I have to say that going to a pediatric dentist versus a general one, made a WORLD of difference for him.  The waiting room was awesome with lots of over-sized stuffed animals, legos and other toys, and a TV.  Once we went back to get started, we were in a private room, with an iPad for Alex to play on, and "happy" gas help him relax.  The dentist and her assistant were great and clearly very used to working with children.

{The assistant was from Bosnia and had a REALLY thick accent.  Every time she tried to tell him what they were going to do or asked him a question, I could tell he couldn't understand a thing she was saying.  Honestly, I think it was a blessing in disguise!  Hahaha.  Alex's anxiety over even the IDEA of having a tooth pulled was enough to cause a freak out.  I euphemistically told him they were going to "wiggle out the cavity" while we were there, and it was enough to keep him in the dark and happy.}

He was slated for two extractions plus a pulpotomy and crown today, and after getting numbed up, he was good to go.  The dentist said she'd see how he was doing before pulling the 2nd tooth (the one that wasn't actively bothering him), and I was glad to know she was proceeding so cautiously and caring-ly.  To sum things up, he did GREAT at the start -- no problems whatsoever while they were drilling and doing the pulp; not so great at the end -- he started to lose it while they were putting the crown on and things escalated when they got to the actual extraction; but all's well that ends well, and they pulled that tooth out quicker than lightning and then gave him 5 gold coins for the treasure machines.

{We'll just save that second extraction for another visit.}

It took him a few minutes to calm down and stop crying afterwards, but the iPad helped, as did the gold coins (which resulted in 6 ninjas from the gumball type machine), and by the time he heard that his "soft diet" for the next 48 hours could consist of milkshakes and ice cream {among other things}, he was happy as a clam.  The fact that he now has a "silver tooth" (which he keeps calling a golden tooth) and a visit from that Tooth Fairy to look forward to tonight was just icing on the cake.  

{Honestly, that tooth is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen.}

We finished the evening off with ice cream, and once we were home, Alex scampered off to bed, with visions of tooth fairy money dancing in his head.  :)  Now we have another month and a half to recover before he has to go back in and have the EXACT same thing done to the other side of his mouth.  Happy holidays!  Womp womp.  Hahaha.