Tale of a Tooth

The tooth fairy is back, and for Colby her visit was terrible and wonderful. Though he watched his older brother go through the process (coveted his loot and everything), when his teeth started to get loose he was adament that he did NOT want them to fall out. The mere idea just creeped him out completely. No attempts at bribery or tales of fairies would sway him. He wouldn't wiggle them, wouldn't let us touch them, and wouldn't change his mind. At first I was willing to be patient and let nature run its course, but if you've ever had a little kid just starting to lose teeth, you know that at some point the grotesque dangling becomes unbearable and you have to take matters into your own hands. I forced him to sit down and hold still and addressed the matter with some dental floss and a square knot. Colby was most displeased. He sobbed in anguish as if his arm were broken. Then he called his dad and tattled on me. Long after the ordeal was over, he decided that if there was no way to put the tooth back in, he might as well get some money for it. By the time we had it packaged up to put under his pillow, he was smiling again. He lost another tooth the very next day and the process went much smoother the second time. Above is Colby's kindergarten picture. I love it for a couple of reasons. First, his two front teeth are loose and you can see them beginning to jut out in a deformed way. I also love it because he asked to go to the bathroom before they took his picture so that he could fix his hair, and that hairdo will now go down in our family history books! What a cool kid.