Look who is snaggletoothed!

Well, it has finally happened.  After weeks of anticipation, daily wiggling, focused brushing, book reading, and macho talking, LO has lost his first tooth!  For those of you who know him well, yes, it was a bit traumatic...for all of us.  Yes, there was drama.  You wouldn't believe me if I tried to tell you there wasn't, would you?  So here is how it went down...

LO has had a big day.  This week he has been participating in a water safety camp at our local Y.  Today was day four of rushing down the mountain to swim for 45 minutes, and rush back up for dinner.  DH and I are tired of the rushing, and we aren't doing any swimming in the middle.  The boys (well, LO anyway) are having a great time, but it has made for a hectic week. On top of our swim class, LO has had two "daddy days" this week where we allow him to skip quiet time to spend quality time with just DH.  He normally gets this once each week DH is off, but earned a second day as a reward.  This is a sweet time for LO and DH, but it is obvious that LO still needs quiet time.  The lack of down time is apparent in how he participates in the rest of his afternoon.  So he had Daddy time yesterday after school, then off to swim, then ran home, then bed.  Today was the same, school, Daddy time, swim, home for supper with Papa and Lah-oo.  Daddy time today was playing at the park, then going to a local school festival.

Daddy let him have a cherry snow cone.  Can you tell?  I really wanted to photoshop his upper lip, but in the interest of letting readers be as grossed out as I was...you're welcome.

Needless to say, LO was pretty spent when he got back home.  He enjoyed dinner with Papa and Lah-oo, then went with DH to brush his teeth.  This morning, LO told me his tooth would come out tonight or tomorrow. This afternoon,  had checked out five more books on the subject. We had all talked at dinner about how loose his tooth looked.   When I heard screaming from the toothbrushing bathroom, I just assumed we were having too tired boy drama.  Boo asked me why LO was crying and I replied "Daddy probably told him something he didn't like."  As the crying went on, and intensified, it finally occurred to me that it might be tooth related, and that DH might need reinforcement.  Sure enough, I found LO and DH in the bathroom holding the hand towel to LO's mouth.  (Reason #27 that I'm glad I bought grey hand towels for the boys' bathroom!).  Poor LO was terrified and said it hurt.  DH and I kept telling him it didn't hurt.  (Why do we always think that's ok. I mean we know it doesn't hurt, but it still seems rude).  Finally I took over.  DH and LO had done the hard part, but I would be the closer.  LO has had one other bloody injury recently (and his first since his stitches last fall), and he was terrified.  I didn't realize until after that last injury that he was afraid that bleeding meant he'd need stitches again.  This time, I was better prepared.  LO was scared because of the blood, and telling him he wasn't going to need stitches seemed to help.  He was also afraid to continue brushing his teeth.  I told him he could just rinse and be done for the night.  I told him it was really exciting that he'd lost his tooth.  As he finally calmed down and stopped crying, he told me it was not exciting at all, he was scared.  I felt badly then.  I tried to explain then how it was exciting to me, but didn't mean to make light of his uncertainty.  All this time, his little tooth sat on the edge of the sink.  I kept having visions of it sliding down the drain.  Oh, what a mom fail that would have been to botch the first tooth fairy visit. After I promised no stitches and no more tooth brushing tonight (apparently the tooth fell out while DH was brushing it), LO was ready to take pictures.  We had promised Nanny K that we'd let her know as soon as it was out.  So here are those shots.  It was tough to get a big smile and eyes open...

Even though you can't see the space, I think this face sums up  LO's reaction.  He's trying to be happy because all the grown ups are excited, but he's not really sure.  He's also feeling the new space in his teeth with his tongue and lower lip. 

 It was fun to have Papa and LO here to help celebrate the event.  It's LO's personality to prefer quiet acknowledgment over lively excitement. It's hard to know with him how exactly to be the right amount and kind of excited.  He's a tough read that way.  So I volunteered to ask Papa and Lah-oo to be low-key in their response.  LO declined my help.  I thought he was going to avoid showing them, but he didn't.  They were excited the way most people would be...loudly.  LO actually seemed to roll with it.  He didn't enjoy it exactly, but he rolled with it, and that is progress, I think.  Lah-oo was really sweet to acknowledge to LO, quietly, that she was glad to have been here for this milestone.  I didn't see their conversation, but I heard it and it sounded like a sweet moment.

So all of this happened at bedtime, of course, and we had a little frenzy of tooth fairy prep.  I had bought a pillow for the occasion last fall, thinking it would be another year or two before we'd need it.  I brought the pillow out and showed LO.  He seemed to like it and I tried to convince him that we should leave it outside of his door.  (I really don't know how the tooth fairy would make it into his room and out without being noticed!)  He said he'd rather leave it at his spot at the breakfast counter.  (Sweet! That location is one with which the tooth fairy can work.)  He told DH and me that he thought the tooth fairy would bring him a toy.  (WHAT?)  DH and I discussed the going rate for teeth, and our history with the fairy.  DH's conclusion was that it didn't matter what was left.  "He's going to be disappointed anyway."  Sigh, that's probably true.  Especially if he's looking for a toy.  Poor tooth fairy, she's a disappointment already.

Well, I think it looks pretty good.  Tooth receipt and Liberty dollar.  As LO went to bed tonight, he prayed that he wouldn't be scared of the hole his tooth left and that his friends wouldn't laugh at him tomorrow at school.  It's school picture day.  I hope he smiles.