A Twofer for the Tooth Fairy

Typically, the loss of a tooth--particularly the first one--comes with weeks of wiggling and giggling.  There is much planning about how to evict the tooth:  the string and doorknob, one big tug, the twist and tug, the secret methods that grandpas use that are entirely painless.  Often the tooth practically removes itself as its owner contemplates the method of removing it--while attempting to avoid the pain of actually removing it.  Or, the other common alternative is to lose the first tooth by accidently smashing your face into a door, a bike, a sibling's fist, etc.  Yet again, we do things differently.

We'd been waiting for some time for C to get a loose tooth.  Last week he went to the dentist, who discovered that C's front bottom teeth were coming in behind his baby teeth.  One of them was through the gum, the other was "bulging."  Since the new teeth were not pressing on the baby teeth, the roots of the baby teeth had not dissolved, so the dentist would have to extract the baby teeth.  And then hope that the adult teeth would move forward into the vacated space.  Today was the day.  C was brave and did very well.  Last night, he was worried about it and didn't eat much for dinner.  He'll be on a liquid diet for a few days.  Since his teeth have the full root, I'm told it will cost extra for the tooth fairy to haul them off.  Apparently, unlike most Southern tooth fairies, ours is unionized and has a wage scale based on the size of the job.

We had an odd, extended discussion this evening of whether there are male and female tooth fairies, and why Tinker Belle is different than the tooth fairy.  I think T started it with her insistence that we name our Tooth Fairy.  "Pearl" it is.  I preferred M's "Sparkelina."

M has been doing very well at preschool.  She is very proud of the fact that she has been earning special jobs helping the class because of her good behavior.  Ellie's new favorite song is "Happy Birthday."  She likes to sing it often and will include the name of each person in the family and sometimes will sing Happy Birthday to "cat."  When you ask her, "Is it my birthday today?", she'll smile, shake her head, and reply "no."  And then sing it again anyway.  Her variation today was to sing Happy Birthday to "nobody."

Happy Birthday to C's new teeth!