#1 and #10

 8:45 AM   Tooth #1 -- OUT!

For a year now, Dr. Kevin has been telling us that the Second Little Nguyen would have a loose tooth "anytime now."  He has had a constant mouthache for about eight months (think: eight months of teething!), and so worrisome was it that I took him to the dentist, the eye doctor and the pediatrician, feeling like such a hypochondriac mother.  Well, they all said the same thing:  it's just his teeth moving around and there will be a loose one anytime now.  Well, "anytime" came and went months ago.  

In early August, Thomas discovered his first loose tooth.  F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we thought!  Finally, he is going to lose a tooth!  That was two-and-a-half months ago.  The Second Little Nguyen has wiggled that tooth.  He has jiggled that tooth.  He has shed tears over that loose tooth in his mouth not coming out.  A visit from the Tooth Fairy came and went, although not for him (but "she" had to leave him an encouraging note anyway).  His older brother had lost yet another one.  He finally gave up wiggling the tooth as it was obviously not going to do anything except hang out in there and taunt him.   To say that he has waited a looooonnnng time to lose it would be an understatement.   



His first "window"...



This morning while eating breakfast, he noticed it was really, really lose.  And achy.  Aahh!  I thought.  The telltale achiness!  Upon closer inspection, we realized his adult tooth had pushed way up behind it, and it looked like it was getting ready to take up permanent residence there.  I started to gag.

Mommy does not do loose teeth.  They give me the all-out heebie jeebies.  I can't STAND watching kids wiggle their teeth!  I can handle all things snot, vomit, poop, pee, and dog doo-doo.  But I do not do loose teeth.  So, Daddy "inspected" it and Thomas permitted him to give it a good tug.

And.  It.  Did.  Not.  Come.  Out.

He went upstairs to get dressed for Mass and then came into our bathroom and fiddled with it some more while standing in front of the full-length mirror.  Finally, Thomas relented and wanted it out so badly that he asked Chi to take another tug.  Using a tissue for leverage, and knowing he wasn't going to get another shot at it, Chi gave it a twist and p-o-p!  Out it came!  FINALLY!  Hooray!  That was one stubborn tooth!  Sort of like the person whose mouth it came from!



Defending his glow-in-the-dark tooth box

After the initial shock that every tooth-loser experiences upon seeing the blood on the tissue and the bloody hole in their mouth, I took over and showed our little toothless guy how to rinse and clean his mouth.  We washed his tooth (and I showed him what the sink stopper is REALLY for!), and he SPRINTED to retrieve the glow-in-the-dark tooth box that has been on stand-by next to his bed for two-and-a-half months.  He was so excited to slip that sweet little tooth into the little "door" inside!  He kept opening it back up to check to see if it was still in there!  How sweet.... 



One toothy and one toothless grin.



Later in the afternoon, I took the First Little Nguyen to a birthday party.  The Second Little Nguyen penned a note to the Tooth Fairy in his writing pad.  HA!

Dear tooth fairy,

My tooth came out.  Can you give me a 100 doller?  thak you.  love, Thomas



6:30 PM   Tooth #10 -- GONE!



While I was making dinner, I was thinking about what the Tooth Fairy was going to say to Thomas.  And I was wondering why the Tooth Fairy had not been more prepared and stopped at the bank on the way back from the birthday party!?  I was wondering whose piggy bank we could raid to secure the funds for this all-important first visit from the Tooth Fairy.  How bad would that look to ask Benjamin if we could borrow a few dollars of his allowance?  I knew he would play along, but I couldn't imagine what he would think of our parental ill-preparedness. 

After dinner, as he was finishing his apples and caramel dip, the First Little Nguyen shrieked.  As I turned from the sink to look at him, he had this panicked look on his face and was holding something in his hand.  It was his tooth!  He had lost #10!  It was quite alarming because he hadn't even noticed that it was loose.  So, now, we were in a real predicament:  we had to cover TWO Tooth Fairy visits!



Now two toothless grins...



Well, we were able to scrape a respectable amount together, thanks to the First Little Nguyen.  After his brother had fallen asleep, he came down and handed me a $5 bill.  "I want you to use this for Thomas from the Tooth Fairy," he said.  After protesting and objecting, he held up his hand and made it clear to me that the discussion was over.  For some reason he wanted to give it to Thomas, and he didn't want us to reject his offer.  "You know we aren't going to give him $100, right Ben?" I asked.  "Yeah, but you should use this.  I want you to."   The going rate for the First Lost Tooth is $5 at our house, so we agreed that it would be $10 this time, since Thomas had waited SOOOO long.  How sweet....



A letter from the Tooth Fairy



The Tooth Fairy left a sweet note for Thomas (on the LAST sheet of pink paper in the house!!).  When she went to put it under his pillow, she found the glow-in-the-dark tooth box with his handwritten note underneath.  The tooth, however, was nowhere to be found!  I scoured the bed, trying hard not to wake Thomas, the covers, the stuffed animals, and finally found it on the carpet.  How it got there, I have no idea, since Thomas was guarding that Tooth Box and tooth with his life all afternoon!  I could see that maybe, just maybe, he had taken it out and "hid" it in his bed, trying to test her to see if she could really find it.  Thank goodness, she did, and it's now in a special box in her jewelry drawer, alongside another little box with 10 other little teeth in it.  

After taking care of business with the Second Little Nguyen's tooth, the Tooth Fairy went to tuck a little something under the First Little Nguyen's pillow.  Although he "knows" who "she" is, he plays along nicely for his little brother's sake.  Under his pillow, I found a note written on spiral notebook paper in awkward 9-year old cursive.  It made my heart melt, since I knew he "knew".  He wrote it for me.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Here is my tooth.  I lost it eating apples and caramel dip!  I didn't even know I had a loose tooth!  I took good care of it for you.  I know you like to keep them.

Love,

Benjamin Nguyen

When he found out the "secret" of the Tooth Fairy a few years back, in typical Benjamin fashion, he asked where all of the teeth were that he had left for her.  I took him to my jewelry drawer and showed him the tiny box with all of his baby teeth in it.  He said, "You kept all of them?"  I think I always will, as gross as it may seem.  I like looking at those tiny little things, as they are reminders of how small he once was.  He himself loves looking at them from time to time.  I love to watch him, too.  But for now, he plays along.