Another One Gone

When I was a kid, I loved having a loose tooth. At the first hint of a wiggle, I would descend upon the tooth with all my strength and willpower, begging it to progress at an unnatural rate. A lot of the time, I would get it out of there as quickly as possible- often with a lot of blood and force. Sometimes I treated it like a toy, and would work it until it was just hanging by a thread. I would play with it for days, twisting and wiggling and tapping it with my tongue, until it finally fell out on its own.

One day right before Christmas, we all sat down to breakfast together. “My tooth feels weird,” Connor said. Apparently when he chewed his food, he could “feel it.” I guess I hadn’t really thought much about Connor entering the loose tooth era of his life, because this revelation rocked my world. I got tears in my eyes and started gushing about my baby and his tooth. Of course, I also wanted to get a finger on it and start wiggling.

“Moo-ooom- don’t!”

Oh no! Who is this child who wants his loose tooth left alone? He can’t possibly be related to me! I spent a couple of weeks asking him daily how his tooth was and cajoling him into wiggling it for me so I could see how loose it was. But he didn’t take any pleasure in it, so eventually I quit bugging him other than a perfunctory, “How’s that tooth?” every few days.

Last night, Chip, Connor and Chloe were in the car on the way home. Chip was fussing at Chloe about how she lost a sock in the course of the day, when Connor interrupted. "Yeah, that's nice, BUT MY TOOTH JUST FELL OUT!" Chip stopped the car to turn around and get a good look, then called me to share the news. I absolutely paced by the back door waiting on them to get home- I couldn’t wait to see my suddenly grown-up boy and his new gap-toothed grin.

They got home, and Connor handed me the tiniest little baby tooth I have ever seen in my life. Then he smiled as widely as he could to let me see the new hole in his bottom row of teeth. I was shocked to see that his adult tooth was already well-exposed. Such patience to let the new tooth push the old one out!

It was amusing to witness Connor’s mixed emotions about the whole affair. Part of him was really proud, but part of him was bothered by all the fuss we were making. It was hard to explain that we weren’t teasing him, but that we were truly excited. He told Grammy, “I didn’t even cry!” She assured him that he didn’t need to- it was a natural occurrence that didn’t have to be painful or scary. I think that helped him calm down about the whole thing. He wouldn’t let us take a picture, though.

We got the kids ready for bed while covertly clearing a path between Connor’s bedroom door and his pillow. Time for our first visit from the Tooth Fairy! We didn’t want her tripping over a toy and spoiling the fun. When the time came to sneak a dollar under his pillow in exchange for that tiny tooth, I totally chickened out. If Connor accidently woke up, I couldn’t bear to be the one who had screwed it up! Besides, I’m Santa- I figured I should share the fun. Chip got in and out quick as a flash (or in our house, "quick as The Flash"). “Piece of cake!” he said, showing me the tooth while we both giggled like kids.

Connor woke up this morning, thrilled to find a dollar bill under his pillow. Then the morning progressed, just like any other morning. We struggled to get shoes on, and get out the door on time, and the tooth was forgotten. Another milestone has come and gone, and my babies continue to grow up before my eyes. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. But that's okay- I'm pretty sure I don't want to.