The Putt Putt Adventure & Luke's First Dentist Visit

Last Sunday, Landis was scheduled to go on a business trip that would leave him out of town until yesterday. Because Landis knew that he would miss his little man, he spent every second with us last weekend. On Saturday, the weather was nice so we headed out for an adventure - we thought we would give Putt Putt a try. Luke plays "golf" at home and loves it so we thought he would enjoy Putt Putt and he did....in his own way....

When we arrived, we were excited to see that there were only 2 other families playing and they were WAY ahead of us. We knew that we were going to need some extra time with a 2 year old tagging along. Luke picked out his ball - a yellow one - which was no surprise - and picked out his putter, which was orange (only because yellow wasn't an option). :) At the first hole, we let Luke watch me putt first and then we asked him to try it. He actually did really good! He hit the ball and then chased after it and "hit" (or more like pushed it with his putter) until it went in the hole. He was so proud of himself! He did this same routine for about 4 holes - he would watch us, put his ball down on the mat, hit his ball, and then chase after it to get it in the hole. Then, approaching the 5th hole, the 2 year old attention span kicked in. He threw his putter down and began running all over the course - attempting to find as many hills as he possibly could to run up and down. His favorite - the number 18 hole with the BIG hill. He wanted to run up and down this hill. I let him a few times until a family needed the hole. Luke didn't understand why he couldn't run up and down this hill right in front of them. So, at this point, Landis and I quickly went from hole number 8 to hold 18. We asked Luke to wait his turn and then we attempted to let Luke hit his ball up the big hill. But, oh no, no luck - he ran to the top of the hill. I chased after him and then Landis hit all 3 balls up the hill and we let Luke put the balls in the hole so he could watch the balls disappear. We told Luke it was time to go and to put up his putter and he said, "I want to play putt putt again." Mommy and Daddy's response, "Let's go to the park instead." Oh me!! What an adventure! I think we were at the putt putt course maybe 30 minutes....that includes getting in and out of the car!!! :)

I think Luke enjoyed himself - but, needless to say, it will be SEVERAL more months before we attempt that extracurricular activity again. :)

Here are some pictures of our family putt putt outing...

After leaving the putt putt course, we headed to Oak Hollow Lake to let Luke play on the playground. It is not often that daddy joins us at the parks. Matter of fact, Landis often asks me, "Why do you take him to the park so much? Are you sure he wants to go?" Well, after we played at the park for over an hour and Luke still didn't want to leave, Daddy was able to see that Luke and I go to different parks because he loves them - he loves to climb, run, swing, slide, jump, and play in the mulch. Anything outside - he loves!

At this park, which is a neat one with a beautiful view of the lake, Luke's favorite activities were...

-playing hide and seek with daddy. Luke would go hide behind a pole next to this big wall and then Landis would sneak up behind him and jump over his head. Luke loved this!

-"cooking dinner" with mulch stacks - this was quite hilarious! There was this little ledge like area under the playground. Luke found this and started spreading out piles of mulch onto the ledge. I said, "Are you cooking something?" Luke answered, "I'm cooking alphabet soup for Elmo." (He has a book called this.) :) I said, "Who are you inviting to dinner?" His answer, "Elmo, Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Big Bird, Grover, Memaw, & Caleb" (now we get to see who is really important - Mommy and Daddy were not included on that list....LOL!) As he talked and talked, he continued to make his piles of mulch....scrape them off and then start over. At one point, he looked at me and said with a big silly grin, "Minnie doesn't want to eat those sticks, she wants food." Now, that's funny!!! :) Even funnier was when, all of a sudden, Luke decided that he was going to make a real attempt at eating this fabulous alphabet soup that he was cooking. He took a big chunk of mulch and put it in his mouth! My response - "Ewww....yuck....nasty....spit that out....what in the world are you thinking?" As he spits and spits and wipes his tongue he was saying, "I wanted to eat the soup." Oh me!!! My response, "Sweetheart, let Mommy show you how to pretend to eat your soup." I, very dramatically, show him how to pretend to eat his soup. Whew! That seemed to help him understand - he began "pretending" to eat his soup and to feed the other guests. :) I guess the lesson of the day was - How to Pretend without Choking on a Pile of Mulch!!! :)

-Luke also had a blast just running and running. We chased him around the poles, up the ramps, over and under the slides....it was fun! Luke never seems to run out of energy.

-he enjoyed playing peek a boo with Landis through the bridge holes - Landis would stand down below and watch me and Luke climb to the top of the slides and over the bridge....Luke loved to look down and see that he was taller than his daddy. :)

-we took a break and went to watch the ducks and geese eat crackers - Luke enjoyed this but wanted to pet the ducks - we had to teach him another lesson - ducks are not like dogs - you can't pet them. :)

-Luke enjoyed climbing the ladders - most of the time, when it's just me and Luke at the playground, I can't let Luke climb the ladders because I have no way of climbing behind him fast enough to make sure he doesn't fall off the other ledges. He doesn't understand yet that if he steps off an area with no rails that he will fall. With Landis there, I stood at the bottom of the ladder and Landis stood at the top and we let Luke climb all by himself. He felt like such a big boy.

-And, of course, Luke loved the swings!

-Finally, a playground adventure is never complete without running through some leaves. He found two piles to play in.

Here are some playground pictures....

Here are some pictures of us playing at home that same day.....the other day at Rite Aid, I bought Luke this cheap little fishing pole with 6 magnetic fish. He loves this toy! He puts his fish in a bucket and "fishes" them out. Here's something interesting....you know that Luke and I love to sort all types of things....well, on his own, Luke began taking his fish out of the bucket and placing them in bushes. I just sat and watched him and then quickly realized....he had the two green fish in one bush, the two red fish in one bush, and the two blue fish in a different bush. What an organized little man! :) Here he is going fishing....


Here are some pictures of us playing inside the house....by the looks of the darkness outside and Luke's pjs, I'm thinking this is one of those times that he and I were playing WAY BEFORE sunrise. I mean, IF Luke sleeps until 5:30, that's like sleeping in for him. :)





And....now, let's talk about Luke's first trip to the dentist. I should preface this by saying - I HATE the dentist! It's nothing personal about the dentist that I see - he's great to me - I just hate the thought of laying back in a chair with my mouth open and someone else's fingers in my mouth! I HATE IT! I say that to say - I think I was more worked up and nervous about this appointment than Luke could ever think to be - I mean he didn't even know what was coming! I was also a little nervous about this appointment because Luke HATES for me to brush his teeth. He fights me tooth and nail so I'm never sure how good I'm actually able to brush his teeth. Now, Luke loves to brush his own teeth, but doesn't want me to do it. He gives me his favorite line lately, "I do it by myself."

Anyway - worried or not, it was time to take off to the dentist. I took Wednesday off of work for this fun "first"! Here's a picture of Luke before we left....he wanted to take Mickey with him and I didn't argue with that....
The dentist office that we chose is High Point Pediatric Dentistry. It only took us 20 minutes to get there. We arrived a little early to fill out all of the paperwork that comes with a 1st visit. As soon as we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at the building. The decorations inside were detailed and appealing to children. The theme was frogs and lizards so Luke was automatically intrigued. After collecting the stack of papers that I needed to complete, Luke and I headed to the back room where there was a play room. While I filled out papers, Luke played. He had a good time moving the kid sized chairs around and reading books. It was quite cute when at one point, I looked over and Luke was sitting on the floor with a book in his lap just reading to himself and looking at the pictures. At times like that, I think to myself, "Quit growing up!" :)

After about 30 minutes, Luke's name was called and we headed back to the unknown. The dental assistant that came to get us was super sweet. Her name was Parker. She had the kindest disposition and was very knowledgable.

She took us to the exam room. As soon as Luke saw the big dentist chair, he asked to sit in it so we let him crawl right in. While he was sitting in the chair, Parker asked if she could go ahead and take his picture and she did, here is Luke posing for Parker's camera....

He sure doesn't look like a boy scared of the dentist, does he??? Well, he wasn't. He did excellent the entire visit! Soon after these pictures were taken, Luke wanted to explore the room a little so Parker took advantage of this time - she left the room to quickly start a movie on a TV that was mounted on the ceiling - so cool!!! And then she came back and started reviewing all types of dental hygiene type questions with me about what we were or were not doing at home and what to expect at this appointment. I will talk about her recommendations in a minute.

While Parker talked with me, Luke pushed the rolly chair around the corner of the room, he played with the rubber ducky that Parker gave him and he climbed in and out of the big chair. After Parker and I had talked for about 10 minutes, Luke began to feel left out so he crawled in my lap and started squeezing my face saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy" in the sweetest little voice. Then, he kissed me over and over. Parker and I both just laughed. I quickly convinced him that I was almost done talking and Parker sped up her speech. Then, we asked Luke to crawl into the big chair. He gladly did so. She laid the chair back so that he could see the movie and then she got to work.

Parker had instructed me that I might need to hold Luke's hands just in case he started grabbing but this ended up not being necessary. Luke watched everything that Parker did - he looked at her gloves closely. She let him smell them and told them what they were. Then, Parker began brushing his teeth. It was amazing how relaxed Luke was - he just laid back and watched the movie while she brushed and brushed and brushed and talked with me. The last step was the little mirror - she got out the little mirror and started looking in his mouth. He thought this thing was cool and wanted to touch it. At this point, I held his hands for just a second and that's all I had to do. I touched his hands for support but didn't need to hold them because he was not trying to interfere with Parker. I was so proud of him! After Parker was done, she sat him back up and left the room to get the dentist. (Oh....I should say, she asked Luke before she left, "Do you want to lay back so you can keep watching the movie or do you want to sit up?" Luke said, "Sit up." I thought it was sweet that he knew exactly what he wanted.)

At this point, Luke was beginning to get tired but instead of acting crazy, he seemed to get sweeter. While we waited on the doctor, he hugged on me, gave me some kisses, and then laid his head in my lap while he held his rubber ducky.

In less than 5 minutes, Dr. Chrissy walked in and introduced herself to us. Luke just smiled. She asked Luke to sit back in the chair and then she laid him back. Luke started watching the movie while Dr. Chrissy examined his teeth and put flouride on them. Luke was awesome! He opened his mouth when Dr. Chrissy asked him to every time. The only thing he didn't do was bite down when she needed him to. I don't know that he really understood what she meant. So, she took his little mouth and closed his teeth. He didn't fight her....he just let her move his mouth whichever way she wanted. It took the doctor about 10 minutes and Luke was fabulous! No fussing, no whining, no need for anyone to hold his hand, he was a big boy!!! :)

Because he was such a good boy, Parker said, "Now, you can get a prize from the treasure drawer." He was thrilled! He looked in the drawer and picked out a striped bouncy ball - which would have been exactly what I would have predicted that he chose. With his prize in one hand and his rubber ducky in the other hand, we headed to check out. While I checked out, Luke played in the other playroom that was located at check out. After a very quick check out, we headed to the car. I think I told Luke 20 times on the way to the car how proud I was of him! What a sweet man! I could not have asked for him to have better behavior! :)

Overall, this appointment was great! Luke's behavior was great! The atmosphere of the dental office was inviting - the brand new building, the beautiful, kid-friendly decorations, the friendly staff, and the fast pace that suits the toddler lifestyle - I was impressed! And, most importantly, Luke's teeth look good. He has no cavities. The dentist showed me 2 spots that she said I needed to make sure I was brushing more consistently because there was some decay build up. These are probably the teeth that I don't get during the nightly teeth brushing struggle. Dr. Chrissy told me to not fight Luke standing up when trying to brush his teeth but instead lay him down (just like they did in the dentist chair) and open his mouth wide and brush like crazy morning and night. (Amazingly, since his visit, I have laid him down for all teeth brushing times and Luke is doing fabulous! I am really able to brush his teeth now! The dentist fixed him!) Luke has two 2 year molars that are partially in and 2 that have not come in at all.

Some other recommendations that I was given included:

-cut back on the juice that I give Luke. I asked if this meant even the watered down juice and they said, "yes." They recommend 1 juice per day at meal time and the rest of the day - water and some milk. Whew! This might be a toughy to deal with.

-get rid of the paci - I knew this was coming! Luke has a 40% overbite that will self correct if we get rid of the paci soon. I was honest with the dentist and told her that I will work on that project this summer but not before then. That should still mean that he will be rid of it before his next appointment.

So...I say it again....what a great visit! I wish my dental visits were that good! I highly recommend checking out High Point Pediatric Dentistry if you don't have a children's dentist picked out yet. Tell them that I sent you....and speaking of that....a big thank you to my neighbor, Caren, who recommended the office to me. :)

After the dentist visit, Luke and I went to McDonald's for lunch. Luke ate great and continued to be the sweetest fellow. He watched other kids play on the slides, talked with me about his dentist adventure, and ate and ate. I always enjoy our lunch dates.

What a great morning we had together!

Luke fell asleep in the car on the way home and then took a good 2 hour nap. I am so exhausted everyday from Luke's early wake up times that I did an unusual thing for me - I took a nap too. It felt great to get some extra rest!

As soon as Luke woke up, we headed to Ms. Paula's to get Luke's hair cut. He did fabulous for Paula too. He sat in the big boy chair, put on the smock, and let Paula cut and cut. :) Here are a few pictures after his hair cut....it's kind of difficult to see how much better it looks, but trust me, it looks much better. :)

Did you notice that Luke was playing with not one, not two, but three Mickey Mouse stuffed animals??? He LOVES Mickey Mouse because of the show "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." He carries around a small Mickey, medium Mickey, and big Mickey all over the house. This morning, he was pulling all 3 of them in his dump truck. :)

Here are some videos of Luke playing Putt Putt....these were taken during the first 4 productive holes....

And...before going, I should say....we are glad to have Daddy back home safely with us this weekend. The week went by faster than I thought. On Monday, Luke and I spent the whole evening at the park - I was able to walk for exercise for the first time in a long time and then we we played on the slides FOREVER! On Tuesday, we had gymnastics. Then, on Wednesday and Thursday, my mom ate dinner with us. On Friday, Landis was home! We stayed busy, busy, busy and had a great time! But....we are glad Daddy is back home with us!

I'm super excited about our upcoming fun this weekend - we are getting ready to go to the big Dinosaur Event in Greensboro and then we will be going over to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Fun, fun! I hope to post next week!

Have a great rainy weekend playing indoors! :)

Toddy