Jackson's first visit to the dentist

Jackson is deathly afraid of doctors. To him a doctor's office = shots and pain. Call it a reflex or a learned behavior. Whenever he hears his name called in the waiting room he backs up, starts whimpering and begs for mama. There was nothing different about this first visit to the dentist.

Dr. M is a great guy. He treats almost all of Jeremy's family and a few friends as well. He knows us all by name and we see him at Costco all the time. You could almost call him a family friend at this point. He loves kids and doesn't mind them circling him as he works. Yeah, he's great.

Jackson freaked out for the whole x-ray moment. He was on my lap the whole time and would NOT bite down on those danged scratchy cards. The receptionist was so kind as she whisked him away to the waiting room to play with toys until he calmed down. He thought he was done. 10 minutes later they called his name again. Oh man. The whole cycle started all over again. There was whimpering, that turned into crying that escalated in to flat out screaming. I soothed as best as I could (we had driven all the way over and were NOT going home without a cleaning!) and held him on my lap as I sat with him in the exam chair. Dr. M and I coaxed him through everything and he cooperated for the most part.

When it was all over Jackson jumped off my lap like a changed boy and exclaimed cheerfully, "All done!" He thought his new clean teeth were something else. The new toothbrush was clutched in his proud little hand all the way home.