The royal treatment...

Some days I think one of the biggest reasons I want to adopt another child is because Princess Caroline needs a little de-throning. I mean, everywhere we go, she is just the hit of the princess party. As much as I love seeing so much love and attention bestowed on this charming child of mine, I wonder when it will really go to her head. And we will all pay.

Click on any photo to enlarge, especially the horizontal shots...

My blog format can't handle the larger size on these yet...

All that to say that I took Caroline in for her first dental appointment, and she was just plain spoiled rotten. They LOVE her in the dentist's office. They are card-carrying members of her official fan club. She got the royal treatment, and, of course, I played my role as the mamarazzi. Hmmm...could I be contributing? We made the appointment with our favorite hygienist, Adrienne, who had already forged a friendship with Caroline long before now. I had to laugh when she pulled out a giant pair of sunglasses for Caroline so that the bright light wouldn't bother Caroline's eyes.

Caroline was fairly comfortable with the whole experience. I've taken her pretty much every time we've been to the dentist in the past couple of years. After our initial experience with medical personnel of any sort, I wanted to do everything I could to make it a familiar place. A few months after we brought her home, she did sit on my lap and let the dentist take a quick glance at her teeth, just to make sure there were no signs of decay from her months in the orphanage. Today, she had her first official cleaning, and she had no cavities! For which I am thoroughly thankful, considering the amount of candy she snags. She was fine with everything except the flouride treatment. Mindy usually gags through the whole thing, so I was wondering how Caroline would respond. She had the same unpleasant expression on her face, but she made it the whole two minutes. She wanted to hold my hand partway through the second part of it, which I thought was so sweet.

Because she had no cavities, Caroline got her picture taken for the bulletin board out front. Then she rummaged through the treasure box and found bubbles...a welcome choice over the squirt guns the dentist loaded the box with last year. The hygienest not only made sure each of my kids got a squirt gun but encouraged a squirt gun fight with the dentist in the office. The dentist was quite amused, but I'm not so sure about the rest of his patients.

Post update...when we visited a week later to get Abby's fillings, the office staff took her picture again...just because she's "so cute"...and she got to take it home with her. See what I mean???