Yesterday 6 of the children had checkups at the dentist.  This was going to be The Boy’s first official turn in The Chair.  This isn’t a scary place for him.  He has climbed up during other sisters’ cleanings and let the dentist look in his mouth, just for fun.  We are here all the time, but this was his first real dentist appointment.  His own turn!

He was really looking forward to it.  We hyped it for days, and he just couldn’t wait.  He got all dressed up in his cowboy boots and his leather vest, with his hair neatly combed.  He was ready!

He took a nap in the van on the ride over, and had a sandwich while his sisters had their turns.  Then the receptionist came to the door and called his name.  My brave little man, who slays bad guys, monsters and daddy longlegs for me every day, turned and looked at her.  Then he looked at me.  Then he ran for the glass end table in the far corner of the room and crawled under it!

The stunned silence that followed was broken by bursts of laughter from every side.  In retrospect, that probably didn’t help.

I snapped a picture, coaxed him out, and carried him down the hall.  At the hygienist’s suggestion, I sat in the chair with him on my lap, but that checkup just wasn’t happening.  His mouth was clamped shut and he refused to make eye contact with anyone, including me.

In the end, he did open for me while the dentist peered over my shoulder - but as soon as he figured out she was looking he shut down again.  He left with a new car in his hand, trying to walk with his usual swagger, but the rest of his day was off.  He just wasn’t himself after that, the poor guy.

Today he’s trying to downplay it, to laugh it off.  “I hide under the table,” he chuckles.  “I funny!  Hah hah hah!”  His laughter is loud and phony.

He’s going to  have to wait another 6 months to slay that dragon.

If you're new here, please take a moment to introduce yourself! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

You loved it, right? Here's more like it:

1. Boys vs. girls
2. I am funny
3. Thank you Lord
4. Teeth = Maturity?
5. Lucky they’re cute? I think not.

Filed under: The Boy, photos