He knew nothing of dentists until this week when, by providence I'm convinced, I happened to let him watch the first ten minutes of Reading Rainbow. It comes on after his normal show, and we don't usually watch it. I can't remember if I was feeling weak-willed or was busy or what, but I agreed to watching one story. It was a book about a girl who looses her tooth in Africa, and afterward there was a segment on going to the dentist. In the segment, the dentist explained each step in a kid-friendly way, showed each instrument with fun names for them and explanations, gave an array of flavor choices, and generally made it so easy and natural for the child.
Zack: We should go to that sometime.
Me: Really? How about Thursday?
Zack: Is Thursday next day? [He says "next day" for tomorrow. I think it's cute so I don't correct it.]
Me: No, it's the day after.
Zack: Can we go next day?
Me: No, we have to have an appointment, and we don't have one until Thursday.
Zack: Mmmm.... Ok.
Our actual trip to the dentist was, amazingly, a near carbon copy of the idyllic Reading Rainbow segment! I'm so thrilled we followed our doctor and a friend's advice and went to a Pediatric Dental practice. Since when do they even have marshmallow flavored tooth polish? I can't remember there being 3-D toothbrush art on the walls of my childhood dentist. All the instruments sounded like lots of FUN (yikes), and Zack had a totally positive experience. Incredible, but true.
At the end of the appointment he got to pick a "treasure" out of what looked like a pirate's treasure chest. He's been playing with that small stretchy frog since like it was the best thing in the world.
If anyone is interested, I highly recommend them. I'll be back to edit with the details.
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