Missing Teeth!

Chris has lost THREE teeth in the past 8 days, with one more showing as a little loose. He lost one on Sat, then at school on Wednesday then Thursday morning. Poor Tooth Fairy, she almost overlapped with Santa's scheduled visit!

On Saturday, I was leaving in the morning to work with a high school student on her classwork when Christopher stopped me. He said, “Look, Mommy, my tooth is loose!” Mind you, he has not lost a baby tooth for over a year now. I checked it and did not think it was that loose. Mike called me less than an hour later to tell me that the Tooth Fairy was coming by that night. While on the phone, Christopher walked through and asked him who he was talking to about his tooth. Being the prankster that he is, he told Chris that he was talking TO the Tooth Fairy! Of course, you can guess what happened next! Chris asked to talk to me, and was immediately handed the phone. I’m not the radio DJ in the household, I cannot just disguise my voice at will, and certainly not enough to fool a curious and determined 7-yr old. Especially a 7-yr old who is asking more and more questions about Santa! Thanks, Mike! I did my best, and think I actually pulled it off on the phone, by not saying much, and by being very squeaky. I’m just glad no one was recording or listening in at the moment, not one of my best, I assure you. It satisfied the little guy, and he was pleased that the Tooth Fairy talked to him and was going to come by that night.

And visit she did. She almost forgot, given that Mommy and Papa were TIRED. But, the switch-a-roo was performed, replaced with a dollar bill, several quarters and at least one or two of the other coins. The idea was to have him count it up. Now that he’s in 2^nd grade, he’s able to add and count up bigger numbers, and is getting pretty good at recognizing and counting coins.

In the morning, he climbed into bed with us, not remembering about his tooth. Then, when I asked him how his mouth was feeling where his tooth used to be, he jumped up and raced out of the room. We heard him excitedly exclaim that, “The Tooth Fairy was here!” “She left me some money!” Then we didn’t see him again for a little while, as he turned on the TV and played some cartoons. When we later asked him how much he got for his tooth, he said, “Oh, it was a dollar and some coins.” “Really, well, how much? Didn’t you count it?” “No, I put it in my bank already.” So Mike asked him if he could remember how much he got, and he repeated it was the dollar and a quarter and a few dimes. “That’s probably about it.”

He’s rather diligent about putting all of his money in his piggy bank. He’s a chip off the old Par-Ran block, his grandfather in California!

So, days go past, and he comes home on Wednesday with a miniature blue treasure chest that measured less than an inch wide and tall, and less than a half inch deep. Safely inside was his 2^nd loose tooth that came out while at school. A tradition at his elementary school is to go to the nurse, get tissue to stop the bleeding, get a treasure chest, then get your name put on the Missing Tooth Hall of Fame. Now, he has his own name on a tooth sticker on the wall. I never even knew this wall existed until by chance another student was admiring his own name on it just a week earlier. Now, the tooth fairy ALMOST forgot to stop by on this night, having gone to bed too late, and being tired to start with. Good thing she woke up at around 4 AM and resolved the problem.

Again, Chris climbs into bed with us around 6 am and goes back to sleep. When he wakes up around 8 am, he remembered that his tooth had fallen out, so off he hurries back to his bedroom. He counted his money this time, telling us right away that he got $1.78! And then, clunk, clunk, it goes into his piggy bank right away! No playing around for this little guy!

Christmas break has begun, so there’s no school from Thursday until January 3^rd. Before we know it, Chris has come back into our bedroom and said, “Mommy, I had my finger in my mouth, and saw another tooth was loose. Look, it also fell out!”

Now, this child brushes his teeth at least twice a day. He’s very diligent about his responsibilities, and is somewhat of a germ-a-phobe. I know he’s not loosening his teeth on purpose, it’s just a coincidence that they all loosened at the same time, especially after a very long hiatus since the last tooth. The three teeth that came out are all in the same place on either side of his mouth, just to the right and left of his top and bottom front 4 teeth. I checked the last of the quad, only to find that it, too, is also loosening. Not as loose at the last one I checked, but I won’t be surprised if it also comes out in the next week or so.

The Tooth Fairy now has a well traveled path to our door now, and she gladly came by to leave a small gift for Chris, in exchange for his 3^rd tooth. She left in, like all the others, in a plastic baggie. She also, apparently, put a few presents under the tree that had arrived during the day through various venues. They were presents from friends to Chris. He was already getting more and more hyped up in anticipation for Christmas Eve, for when Santa would be here. When he woke up to find new things under the tree, he was beside himself and kept asking us if he could open them up. We told him he could open them on Christmas Eve, but not at that time.

His money from the Tooth Fairy…is STILL under his pillow. We asked him what he got, because he had checked and did tell us that morning that she had come by. He was so distracted by the presents, that he either forgot to go back and check his treasure, or he made a decision to let it sit there for awhile. I checked this morning, and it is still there, all rolled up, under his pillow. In his defense, we did go out all day on the 24^th and 25^th, and he was up way past his bedtimes for the past 3 days. That is something he has a hard time with, changes in his routine. So, we’ll let him leave his money there until he’s ready to go get it. What’s he going to do with it, anyway? I’m guessing…put it in his piggy bank!

Now when we were kids…we used to get a quarter, dime, nickel and some pennies for each of our teeth. And that kind of big change wore a hole in our pockets!

Sigh, each day and each adventure, he makes us shift our paradigms.
We love our little guy, Chris! Pretty special and unique, that’s for sure!