We accomplished a first-time attempt last week when we brought all three of our children to the dentist (two wheelchairs, two adults, one nurse, one Violet).
The
dentist specializes in treating children with special needs and has been seeing Gwen since she was around two years old.
We were not sure how the appointment would go down, but I think we were anticipating that each girl would be called back in succession, one after the other until all were cleaned and checked.
It was a familiar scene for me, since I took over taking Gwen to her dentist about three years ago, after she would no longer cooperate for Gina. Gwen isn't always nice to her mom, even though Gina has done so much care for her, taking her to appointments much more over the years.
In fact, Gwen has preferred me at appointments so much that it used to make me feel quite guilty over the way she treated Gina, always throwing temper tantrums or preferring me. These days, my charm doesn't always work as well as it once did and she has gotten better.
But last week, when the dental hygienist called all three girls back, we all thought:
are you sure you want everyone at once? This could be disastrous. If you don't gas our children, you made need to gas us if it goes badly.
As the six of us (nurse, too) paraded into a large room lined with four bright-green dental chairs - me wheeling Gwen, nursing wheeling Eliza and Gina calling Violet out of the log-cabin playhouse - it began a well-choreographed affair.
The dentist and her hygienists have always impressed me with their ability to care for Gwen and treat her like any other nine-year old. They've always managed themselves at a high level of professionalism, tolerating her crying, additional suctioning and getting her teeth cleaned.
This appointment, with all three children, was no exception.
As they led me to a station where they had moved the chair so Gwen could simply tilt back in her own, they also led Violet back to a private room while Gina stayed with Eliza and the nurse.
Violet was such a good patient, as if all of these appointments (a word she uses quite often) she's attended with her two sisters have taught her the difference between being a good and bad patient.
For only her second visit, Violet didn't need us to comfort her while she sported pink sunglasses and watched
Dora the Explorer.
Meanwhile, Gina took care of Eliza as Gwen was cleaned and I made "Dad noises" and held the bite stick to keep the hygienist's fingers in tact.
When it was Eliza's turn, all hands on deck were required. While Mom held hands and arms, Eliza's nurse held her head so the professional could go to work on a quick cleaning.
As mentioned, the dentist and her staff were so gentle, understanding and efficient that by the time we all walked out, we barely knew what we all had just accomplished (I give
our girls' dentist and her team my highest recommendation).
In fact, just before the appointment, as we were walking into the building Gina said "We'll either go this route, with all kids every time or never attempt this again. We'll see!"
It's another example of when we work with completely competent people who are well-managed (and our children were all behaving well simultaneously - a rarity) that we can achieve success when we venture out as a family. It's these little accomplishments that help me feel a sense of normalcy and a part of the world at-large.
I think it also reflects the spirit of the House of Gort:
we typically try to do things as ambitiously as we can the first time around because if we didn't our imaginations would prevent us from accomplishing anything of size or merit in our already-challenging world.
