Cleaning the teeth......

Kali 3.1 went for her first teeth cleaning at the dentist. She first sat down on her own and was OK with it all since there were no tools and there was a TV with cartoons at the end of the chair. Once the cleaning tools came out, she was leery of it all.

So I laid down in the chair with Kali laying on top of me and that seemed to ease the fears quite a bit. The dentist looked around with a mirror and Kali did well. She then used the spinning polisher on Kali's teeth. She did pretty well with an occational noise signifying that she wasn't terribly pleased with the situation. She got most of her teeth cleaned and then decided enough was enough. Dentist said no big deal and Kali got a Dora toothbrush and some SpongeBob toothpaste for her troubles.

I got my teeth cleaned as well after that while Kali watched some cartoons. Giselle 0.4 decided after babbling at the assistant for awhile that she'd take a nap. I was glad that she took that option, because I wasn't terribly happy with the assistant baby-talking to Giselle while holding sharp instruments in my mouth. It seemed like a really bad idea, but it's hard to voice those complaints with the sharp instruments in your mouth.

Mrs. Lime was shocked that Giselle wasn't a problem while in the dentist office. I had no concerns about the situation, but Mrs. Lime was nervous that I didn't have a babysitter and that Giselle would fuss and cry the whole time. I think mothers don't have a full understanding of just how smart these babies are even at this age and how much they manipulate their moms and their emotions. Giselle knows that she can fuss at any time when Mrs. Lime comes around and she'll instantly get some milk from Mommy. She abuses it at times, but there's no way Mrs. Lime is letting that little baby go without anything.

Meanwhile, Giselle and I have a much different arrangement. There are times when she fusses a lot and I can tell that she's hungry. There's another form of crying where I know she's just turning up the volume hoping her mom get suckered into the room. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. The amusing part about this crying is that Giselle knows that Daddy knows what she's doing. So many times, I'll stand there and watch her and she'll smile while screaming. She knows that Daddy's not buying what she's selling and that's pretty funny to her, but she also knows that if she keeps fussing, she's got a shot at drawing Mommy's attention.

I should note that Giselle is an excellent baby overall. She only breaks out the fussing on rare occasions. She maximizes her fussing opportunities.