William's FIRST VISIT TO THE DENTIST!
Teeth brushing in the his house is a battle, as I know it is in most households that have young children.
Our battle involves crying, yelling and the eventual pinning a 3 year old to the ground or 'swaddling' him in a towel. There for I was not looking forward to the first visit to the Dentist. I was sure that there would be no looking at William's teeth that day with out either some major tears or wrestling moves. But as most kids do, William surprised me! He was excellent. He sat on my lap and let both the hygienist and the Dentist count and check his teeth...
Here he is with his bag of goodies (It seems that when my back was turned he cleaned out the prize cupboard) and his new hat he got for behaving so well!
I never gave my child a soother, no particular reason really, by the time I wanted to introduce it he wouldn't take it... However he quickly substituted his blanket for one and it has stayed securely in his mouth ever since. When he was a baby I would alternate between about 4 different blankets hoping to decrease his reliance on one specific object, but by the time he was about 1.5yrs old he refused the rotating blanket system and 'Precious' was born. The blanket sucking issue, it has been a loosing battle over the past year. And it is causing a lovely over-bite in my child's mouth, but I didn't get in to TROUBLE at by the dentist! YEAH!
We have tried repeatedly to wean William of his beloved 'Precious' blanket over the past year. It started last June, when we left for holidays with out 'Precious' (by complete accident!) We figured well we will just wean him now... perfect, 2 weeks no blanket access... he will be cured! We returned after 2 weeks, traumatized by the most wicked temper tantrums that we have ever seen. I cant put in to words the desperation, anger and frustration that spewed every night from my 2 year old over the 2 week holiday. And when we arrived home, he found his 'precious' and promptly popped it right in to his mouth and fell asleep.
We have put some house rules in place since in regards to 'precious'; its suppose to be a 'in your room only blanket'. Meaning if you want to suck on it go to your room... but exceptions always exist... Sickness, difficult days, transitions to day home, dental visits (did you see it in the above picture).
He is at the age now that we tell him that the blanket is not to go in his mouth outside of his bed, and he understands. He does the same thing every time; Pops it out of his mouth and asks "why?".... "BECAUSE I SAID SO!"
I have to admit to most of the blame for the increase blanket use lately, with Clayton gone most of the week, my energy level for battling the blanket middle ground has wavered and I put my white flag up most days and surrendered.
A few months ago I attempted to fix this blanket issue once and for all. A light bulb idea came to me one night while I was getting ready for bed. VINEGAR! Yes! Lets make that blanket so gross and smelly he wont want to put it near his face! I soaked it for most of the day in an approx 90% vinegar/water solution. Then hung it to dry and gave it back. 3 days later the stench was nasty and the blanket was still securely in the possession of my child's mouth.
And that bring us to the dental appointment and my trepidation. Well the good news is I don't have to worry too much right now about removing 'precious' from our home. Hopefully William will soon realize big boys don't suck on blankets. (Highly unlikely, seeing as his favorite show is CHARLIE BROWN and he really identifies with Linus). But a mother can dream right?!
"Precious" securely protected... FOR NOW!
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