Tav's First Teeth Cleaning (and Penn has a first too)

Today was Tavin's first official dentist appointment (you may or may not remember he went for a quick check for his front teeth after a fall this Fall).  Beforehand we took Koen and his carpool buddy to school and then ran some errands.  That's where Penn's "first" from the blog post title comes in to play.  Penn got to ride in the seat of the cart for the first time.  He was a little unsure at first...

Then, all of a sudden, it was like he realized how fabulous this was.  He was free...out of the car seat, not in the BabyBjorn and only constrained by this little strap.  What a playground!  Bars, metal spokes, the nylon strap.  What more could a 7 month old ask for?

Well, back to the big boy, i.e. Captain Underpants, you know, my Tavin Dale.  Well, while we were getting groceries I hear him say, "Mommy, I need to go to the baff-rum!"  Oh great!  So, we empty out our groceries and take the whole cart into the thankfully very spacious restroom at the front of the store.  Cue Tavin looking adorable attempting to prove his claim correct (unfortunately, we got nothing for our efforts of getting to the toilet on time, oh well).

That was fun (ugh), but I'm thankful he's not afraid of giving it a try on a big throne in a public place.  We'll keep working on it I'm sure (probably in every public place from now on). After the attempt, we got back to shopping and then headed on to our big destination for the day.  Just one more stop first.  We had to drop Penn off (the dentist had mentioned not to bring an infant due to the bacteria flying through the air in the dentist office (how gross is that??)).  Penn snuggled up for a nap at Hilary's house and I shuffled Tav out the door to his first dentist appointment.  Although it is notable to mention that he did manage to go to the bathroom at Hilary's.  Phew!  Ok, so we get to the dentist.  Tavin was quite pleased with himself on his one on one big boy date with Mommy.  He decided to get comfortable in the waiting room and tore into a Motorist magazine.  In this picture he's literally saying, "oh wow!"

His enthusiasm waned when we got into the exam room.  He obediently, but stoically climbed into the big dentist chair.  He's not exactly relaxed in this spot.

They offered him sunglasses and he willingly put them on.  They were to shield him from the bright light they shine into your mouth.  Brilliant!  Too bad they don't have adults wear these!  As you can see, it just made him feel weirder about the whole experience.  His shoulders are all that more tense.

Here's my big boy so bravely laying back doing every little thing the dentist asked him to do. I was amazed.  I was so afraid he was going to burst into tears or something, but he never did.  He just was straight-faced, all business and totally agreeable to whatever they wanted him to do.  Good job, Tav!