Holden had a visit to the dentist today to get his teeth cleaned. It was a surprising visit. I expected screams and cries and whines and pleads and flopping around, but instead he was a super trooper. He took it like a man, with quiet dignity, even with silly sunglasses on.
It was an entirely painless experience, all because of him. He followed every direction from the dentists, opening his mouth, moving his chin, all without complaint or worry. His teeth were picked at, sprayed on, polished and flossed. What a champ.
For a reward he got a five dollar bill to do with as he pleased. At the mall he decided on three chocolate chip cookies (I talked him down from four), and some chocolate milk. Right after the dentist, I know! I remember fondly my mom's deal with me; after each harrowing dentist trip, I'd get the rest of the day off of school... and we'd always stop by McDonald's to share some fries. A simple enough reward, which worked wonders for me. I even remember one time when she wanted to take me back to school, and I looked at her and said, "But Mom, it's tradition. It's our own special bonding time, why would you want to give that up?" I guess I really liked fries to pull a guilt trip like that!
So, $2 for cookies/milk, which left him with 3 more to go. We walked around and he decided he wanted to ride a car. More than the car jumping up and down, he enjoyed the process of putting a coin in the machine. Reminder to self: keep him away from slot machines. So we were down to $2, and I asked him what next. He thought for a bit and looked up and said, "Maybe a book?" I mean seriously, can you ask for a better boy? We settled on a $1.98 coloring book which had giant crayons attached.
I think this was his first real experience with money. On the walk home we talked over exactly how much money he started with, and all the various places it went, and which was the best use of money. His regret was not having enough money to ride the car-machine all day!