Monday, April 11, 2005

Tale of the Tooth

Nathan lost his first tooth on Sunday and I am now an unwilling captive of his gap-toothed smile and oh-so-slight sibilance. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm unable to stay mad or say no when he flashes the grin my way. The worst part is that he knows it - senses my weakness like blood in the water - and uses his advantage mercilessly.

Both of his bottom teeth have been loose for awhile, but not the hanging-by-a thread, twisty-in-the-socket kind of loose. Just wiggly with no indication that it would be any less than a few weeks or a few months even before the tooth fairy would come a-knockin.

So what changed? Well, in one of those increasingly common moments where the boy ignored my "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" mantra, he decided to try to remove a paper wristband with his teeth. (Strangely enough, I was doing the same thing with his sister's wristband in a different room at the time.) One of the loose teeth decided it wasn't up for the fight and out it popped. A bit of blood but no pain - and one VERY excited and frustratingly cute boy smiling at me as I emerged from the bathroom with a paper towel to staunch the flow.

The tooth fairy obligingly took the itty bitty thing and left a shiny Sacajawea dollar in the pocket of his tooth prince pillow. She was kind enough to leave the tooth for me as a memento of the occasion.

Now Nathan is ready to be free of #2 and begged me to tie a string to the other loose one to yank it out. I assured him that it's too soon... the string trick only works when the tooth is ready.

"Okay, mom. That's what my friends at YMCA said too."

Ah, I see. I'm the second opinion now. I nod and smile, and watch the milestones pass so quickly that I don't dare blink.

1 comment:

BarbaraMG said...

My daughter has three teeth missing with another one loose. She looks like a hillbilly and SO cute! She also talks with a lisp now which gives her more points in the adorable department.