Cavity

Photo by Gwen Aucoin www.gwenaucoin.com

We pile into our van and we head out.

We're going to the dentist.

I could think of a thousand things I would rather do on a sunny Friday morning, but it was times for new tooth brushes anyway.

Thankfully everyone was in a good mood. Good mood being no one had bitten, slapped or clawed at each other as of yet.

The bribing tactics I had used the night before seemed to be having a positive effect.

''You know Emmylou, if you're nice at the dentist’s office, mommy will go buy you that Lalaloopsy doll you've been asking for since Christmas!''

Hey, don't judge. You've done it too!

Miraculously, Joseph volunteered to go first.

(This is a new tactic I've been using to get them to do something they would normally otherwise run far far away from. I ask, ''Who wants to go first?''. They ALL want to go first just to aggravate each other. It works like a charm for things such as nail clipping, bathing and shots!:-))

Emmylou went second.

Luke went last and that's when the dreaded word was spoken.....cavity!

Luke had a cavity way back in one of his molars.

When I ask what could have possibly caused this cavity (as if I didn't know), she answers with the obvious, ''Well, does he eat a lot of candy?''. To which my husband replies,''Yes.''. Which translates in my head to, ''You're the absolute worse mom in the world, letting your kids eat all that candy that has eaten away at this poor innocent boy's baby tooth!''

(Often, this is how our conversations go......interpretation is not my friend!)

Yes, I admit my kids DO eat candy. But, I still insist that they don't necessarily eat A LOT of candy.

I like to think of their eating habits as more ''balanced''.

I try and make sure they eat their vegetables, but when your daughter tells you at the dinner table, ''I don't have to eat my vegetables to grow big, the hiccups will take care of that!'', what am I supposed to say? I mean really, who can argue with that:-)

My thought pattern is if I tell them NO to candy, then they'll just want it more. I've learned that the hard way:-) (Reverse psychology has also been a great tool in my child rearing tool box!)

I'm just not the mom giving away celery sticks at Halloween...not that there's anything wrong with that:-)

So anyway, the dental hygienist could obviously see the ''I hate myself for letting this happen to my child'' look in my eyes, so she nicely explained that sometimes these things just happen....even though we both knew that wasn’t true.

I appreciated the kind gesture.

So they all got light-up tooth brushes that seem to help the teeth brushing situation and hopefully another cavity situation.

That night, Emmylou asked me if I had special eyes that could see the little ''bugs'' that cause cavities. To which I answered, ''Of course! Now keep brushing!''

That also seems to help!