I said to Justin today, I can't wait for the day when all three of my kids can brush their own teeth without supervision. What a chore getting three sets of teeth brushed, (plus my own), before 7:00 AM!
When the twins only had a few teeth, they loved sucking on their toothbrushes and would allow us to at least brush over their few teeth a couple times. Then, a while later, they both started hating the toothbrush. We literally would have to clamp them down and double team them to get their teeth brushed. After a while, we had to stop doing that because I didn't want them to associate brushing teeth with being held against their will. Thankfully that helped and they now will at least take the toothbrush from us and attempt to brush on their own. We've started singing the ABC's or counting while we brush which has seemed to help. I usually make it to S or T before they decide they are done, but at least it's progress. There are still times when C will fight us so we have no choice but to resort to "forced brushing." We're all so relieved when it's done in the morning, only to know that in 12 hours we will be repeating the process.
We brush AJ's teeth and although she sometimes states she doesn't want to, she doesn't give us much fuss. She likes to choose who does it each morning/evening and of course it's always the parent who ISN'T holding her toothbrush. For over the last year and a half we have been flossing her teeth and using mouth rinse. (OK, not daily but a few times a week!). Unfortunately our period of time where we thought it was OK to give her fruit snacks on the way home from school caught up with us. She has her first cavity (or two!), so will need to make an extra trip to the dentist. Hopefully this is a good learning experience for all of us. I haven't bought fruit snack in forever and will never purchase them again! Plus, I'm hoping AJ and the twins will continue donating their Halloween candy every year to the local dentist who will exchange their candy for money-a great deal! Yes I feel like a guilty parent for "allowing" my child to get a cavity. The first dentist AJ saw, (mine and Justin's dentist), blamed me for feeding her too much candy and juice. As you can imagine he got an earful from me and I will never see him again (nor will AJ). I could go on and on with how wrong he was to say that, but I'll step of my soap box now...
I really like AJ's new dentist and wish I had taken her to a pediatric dentist all along. Her first visit was great. They let her color on her little "bib," explained everything so well and she got many "prizes" when she was all done (stickers, toothbrush, a flashy new ring...). Her dentist explained there are some people who can get away with out flossing and there are those who can't. Unfortunately, AJ falls in the later group (as do her mom and dad). Hopefully we can make flossing a regular part of every one's dental routine (although I'm not ready to tackle that with the two littlest Schaacks yet-poor L is still waiting for 4 teeth to come in!).
And in 8 hours the process will begin again...
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