Losing a Tooth

On Saturday evening, I was on the phone with Leah when Harper started pulling at my shirt. Both of my girls are Grade A pester-ers when I'm on the phone (heaven forbid), so I tried to shoo her off. When she started beating on my leg and continued the "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.", I finally looked down and saw her standing wide-eyed with her hand in her mouth.

"My tooth is loose."

My mouth dropped, and tears instantly sprung to my eyes. How on earth is she old enough to lose a tooth?! (Read:: how am I old enough to have a child in elementary school with missing teeth already?!). I'm not sure if it was my shocked reaction or just the confirmation of her in fact having a loose tooth, but she immediately burst into tears. At this point, I finally told Leah I'd call her back, because apparently this had reached crisis level. 

I held her for a minute and examined her tooth some more. Sure enough, it was loose. I told her how proud I am of her and how she's growing up, but she just kept crying. It must be hurting her if she's this upset, right?

"Mom!  How can I go to school with bad teeth?!"  

Bahahaha. Yes, the drama does start this early. I tried not to totally invalidate her concerns by laughing, but it was hard. 

After reassuring her that it's normal and reminding her that other kids in her class have lost teeth, she was finally ready to step off the ledge. 

And she couldn't keep her fingers away from that tooth the rest of the night. Knowing her, I knew it wouldn't be long before she wiggled it on out, so I hurried on to Etsy to find a little tooth pillow for her. 

Growing up, Leah and I both had little pillow shaped like teeth with a little gingham pocket on the back. Even now, we still remember them vividly. So, I made sure to skip right over the normal looking pillows and headed straight for one that is shaped like a tooth. Though cute as can be, it was located in Georgia, so I had to cross my fingers that it'd arrive on time. 

Sure enough, Wednesday afternoon, I got a picture from Kasey of my sweet girl with a hole in her smile and a creepy tooth necklace proudly displayed.  Man, that was fast. 

Thankfully, her pillow arrived that day in the mail, and she hung it on her door knob for the tooth fairy to come. But, then mama realized at 9:30 pm that the only cash I had was a $20 bill. And we aren't starting that tradition of a twenty for each tooth. 

So, in case you haven't heard, the Tooth Fairy only comes on the wee hours of Friday mornings. 😉. But, there was Harp's tooth, ready for her. And in exchange for her pearly white, she got $5 that is now burning a hole in her pocket. Knowing that there's a reward for lost teeth, she's been pretty consistent about checking on the possibility of other loose ones.