FINALLY #1 lost her tooth!!!! In case you are unfamiliar with our family, this has been a point of contention for nearly six months. This wasn't the first tooth she has lost it was actually the fourth. And based on the experiences of the first three, she really had no reason to fear the loss of this tooth. Here is the breakdown:
1. She wiggled like a good little girl really worked it, then when it was time she came to me, I barely tugged (bumped it really) and it fell right out. (literally fell right out)
2. Kid #2 and #3 had recently acquired a new bunk bed. In an attempt to improve the fun factor of ascending to the top bunk they decided that the lower child would put the arm of a stuffed animal in their mouth, while the upper children pulled up the supposed passenger with the other arm of the stuffed animal. #1 came running down, and told me very calmly that her brother pulled out her tooth. It never hurt her, no pain at all. Now keep in mind this tooth was not loose nor was it ready to be pulled out. We are still awaiting the adult replacement of that poor lost baby tooth.
3. Nothing special here, loose tooth, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, and she pulled it out herself.
So going into this one, we had high expectations. Should be easy, it was one of the front teeth on the top. Easy to access, easy to wiggle, all things said this should be perfect. We could not be more wrong. She was deathly afraid of this tooth, she refused to touch it and wouldn't allow me near it. I tired to reason, I tried to persuade, I used logic, I lied and told crazy stories about giant needles and mean dentists. The three times she actually agreed to allow us to pull on it (and to say allow is a huge stretch, more like while she was sleeping) after I pulled, she said it didn't even hurt.
Finally with the promise of a very valuable bribe coupled a very real threat, she let her mother pull. She skillfully and gracefully pulled and twisted all at the same time removing the tooth before anyone knew what happened. Glory! For any one else in the world our joy was definitely overkill. But none of you have lived through it. Even her teachers were grossed out by this dangling, half-inserted snaggle tooth. so Don't judge us in our over zealous celebration.
But this isn't even the best part of the story. This has just been to lay the ground work for the real story.
Our kids use a handmade "tooth pillow" that their mother used 30 years ago. Now I am all for family momentos, but that is just gross. I have three boys and the wife wants to hand down the underwear from boy to boy, again, too gross. I am not so hard-up that I can't afford to grant my boys their own fresh underwear. This from the same woman afraid to get toys at the DI or Salvation Army.
Used teeth pillows and used underwear = gross out city.
Back to my story.
#1 puts the tooth on the pillow and slips it under her pillow. We all go to bed, and I wake up about 4:00 AM to exchange said tooth for a slightly wrinkled and used $1 bill. I get about half way into the room and she sits bolt upright, completely awake. I was busted. You see she is a very light sleeper, like me. Any small movement or noise and she wakes up. So quickly I tell her the following story:
"Honey, I just got a call from the Tooth Fairy, and she is very concerned because she had you on her schedule tonight to come and get your tooth (because she has been waiting for it for a very long time) and unfortunately she was in Pittsburgh and ran out of money! You see, with all the snow and ice storms that have been happening back on the East Coast, more kids have been falling and busting their teeth out. So when the tooth fairy arrived to pick up little Johnny's tooth, she often would see that his brother Jack also had a tooth under his pillow. So she is hitching a ride with a truck driver to Fairytopia and will stat on the West coast tomorrow night."
Some of you may say that goes beyond a story, you may even call it a lie. I prefer to think of it as innocence preservation.
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