Jujie's first trip to the dentist

It's dentist time again.
Zoe finally stopped throwing a tantrum every single time we brushed her teeth (twice a day, unavoidably), and now it's Julian's turn to hate it. He also has 4- count 'em four- molars coming in right now, so the back of his mouth is not a happy place. Nico threatens them at the sink, "We're going to the dentist soon, and if you don't have perfect teeth because you won't let us brush them, you may have a cavity, and the dentist is going to have to fill it. YOu'll get in the chair, and he'll get his drill out, and if you think THIS is bad, just you wait..."
Finally after weeks of these threats and the upcoming office visit looming, I thought it wise to hush up with the dentist scare.
Zoe has already been twice before. At the first visit, the kids sit in the big chair, get a bib, and are introduced to "Mr. Squirty" and "Mr. Thirsty". They get to hold the little instruments and squirt out the water into a cup, and then vacuum it up with Mr. Thirsty. The dentist will take a quick look with the mirror-on-a-stick (if they're lucky), get a quick count, and that's pretty much it. On the second visit, they may get a real cleaning and a good look & poke. On the third visit, they get x-rays.
I sat with Julian on my lap in the big pink chair while Grammy sat with Zoe and a pile of toys in the waiting room. He was a bit nervous, but held Mr. Squirty and Mr. Thirsty as they did their work into a little blue cup. He let the Dr. take a quick peek at his teeth through a narrow slit between his lips. And after we finished and were headed to the treasure chest of toys, I asked the Dr. if he was ready for Zoe. He said, "Oh she's getting her teeth cleaned right now".
"What? Really? All by herself?"
"Oh yeah, she's doing fine".
Wow. I remembered when she wouldn't let them put on the bib, and refused to touch Mr. Squirty and Mr. Thirsty. Refused to let Dr. Chen put the mirror stick in her mouth, as the patient Dr. said, "well, maybe next time".
Next thing I knew, she was having x-rays taken.
Afterward, I asked Zoe, "Wow Zoe, you were all by yourself getting your teeth cleaned. That's great. Were you scared?"
"Yeah," she replied with a shrug, "I was a little bit scared, but I had to do it, so I just did".
Right On.