Chupo - Yuck!

Yesterday was a big day. Aysha and I went to the dentist. I had scheduled my appointment for 2:30 with the “adult” doctor, and Aysha’s for 3:00 with the children’s doctor. I reasoned that if she saw me getting my teeth checked first, she would then be more willing to have someone else look at her teeth (the girl rarely allows Jamie or I to take a peek at her teeth, and our tooth brush time at our home is a daily struggle). True to Colombian scheduling, the visit turned out nothing like I had planned. The children’s doctor called us into her office early, while my doctor wasn’t ready until well after Aysha’s appointment had finished.

The amazing part of this story is that after the doctor had turned a white latex glove into a balloon, tied it with dental floss, and drew a face on it, Aysha sat perfectly still and allowed the doctor to not only examine her teeth, but to clean and fluoride them as well! I couldn’t believe it! When the doctor said that there was some plaque on the back teeth, Aysha said, “Sucio!” as if she understood everything, and willing allowed the teeth to be cleaned!

The result of the visit? Aysha has no cavities. But she does have an overbite (as Grandma G. suspected), and the doctor says the reason may be the “chupo”. The doctor said that chupo has to go.

I had been talking to Aysha about getting rid of chupo next week, when baby had his six-week checkup. Jamie and I hadn’t done it earlier, because we wanted to wait until Aysha was used to the new baby. The doctor’s orders were motivation to bite the bullet now! We came home and I said, “Aysha, the doctor says that you can’t have chupo any more because it is hurting your teeth. Let’s put chupo in the basura (garbage).” And we walked right over to the garbage and Aysha giggled as she watched me throw chupo in. She said, “Chupo yuck!” and we closed the lid. Claudina then took the garbage out.

Two minutes later Aysha started to cry, “Chupo…” but we explained once more where it was and why, and then Jamie took her swimming at the pool. When she came back and asked for chupo as she was getting out of her swim suit, I explained again, and asked her what would help her to feel better. She immediately responded, “Painting,” so we did some painting and she didn’t ask for chupo again until bed time. There were a few tears when she was in her crib, but not many; she slept through the night, and only asked for chupo once a few hours after she woke up today. I said, “Chupo went in the garbage, remember? It’s gone now.” She giggled again, and hasn’t asked for it since. She even lay down for her morning nap without a problem!

I’m once again in shock. If I had realized that it was going to be this easy, we would have gotten rid of chupo months ago! Or maybe it is only this easy because we waited until now. I don’t know. In any case, our first day without chupo has been miraculously less painful than we’d anticipated. I’m starting to think that Aysha understands a lot more than we give her credit for.