Zach loses his first tooth!

Well, it finally happened! Zach has been wondering for quite some time when he would lose his first tooth. It seemed (to him anyway) that everyone was losing their teeth but him. Then, one day, it happened. He came and told me that he had a loose tooth. We were all so very excited for him. I knew how much he wanted this. (That was sometime before Christmas break.) He kept telling me it would probably come out during Christmas break...but it didn't. Then he would say it would come out that weekend...but it didn't. Then I noticed that his permanent tooth was visible BEHIND the tooth that was loose. (Yes, being a mom and a mom of a kid in this situation already, I immediately wondered if he would need braces. Awful, but true!) I told him to just keep wiggling it and that it would happen soon.

He came home from school on Tuesday very happy. He told me of an incident in PE (yes, they still do PE in public schools) that caused him to bite down very hard (somehow, not sure). Anyway, it caused the back part of his tooth to be severed from his mouth, leaving only the front part attached. So, I did the mom thing and offered to help him get it out. Sitting in our kitchen, with a kleenex nearby to catch the blood, I had Zach open his mouth. I very carefully reached into his mouth and wobbled his tooth. It was barely hanging on. I slipped my fingernail under the back of the tooth, got a good grip...and pulled! Nothing. Nothing but a little wimper from my sweet Zach. (He had been reluctant to let me pull it out for fear that would hurt. Of course I assured him that it would not. :) So, I tried again, having to hold Zach's hands down so he didn't stop me. Another good yank, but it didn't come out. What a stubborn sucker!

Zach was ready to stop. I talked him into letting me try ONE more time. If it didn't come out, then I would leave him alone for a while. (Little did he realize that I was determined to pull hard enough to get it out this time.) I grabbed under it with my fingernails again and pulled up and forward. POP! Out came his tooth! I used the kleenex to soak up some of the blood. (There wasn't much, but he could taste it and started saying, "Mommy, blood!") Then I showed him the tooth. He was so excited! We immediately called Steven to let him know...but couldn't get him. So I texted him and sent a picture of Zach - minus one tooth - to his cell phone.

Now comes the part about the tooth fairy. Our tooth fairy doesn't give money. She gives small gifts. So when Joshua found out about Zach's tooth he immediately said, "So Zach, what are you going to ask the tooth fairy for?" I had to stop it right there! I explained to them both that the Tooth Fairy is not like Santa Claus where you ASK for things. She just brings stuff that she knows you will enjoy. Plus you have to keep in mind, she has to work on the fly. She doesn't have much time between the tooth coming out and the night to get ready. (Also, I had already gotten Zach something so I would be ready and I didn't want him thinking he would get one thing and then be disappointed with what I got him.)

So anyway, we put the tooth in a plastic bag and he put it under his pillow to wait for the Tooth Fairy. When Zach got up this morning, he was not surprised to see that his tooth was gone. But he was surprised, and happy, to see that she had left him a self-inflating whoopee cushion! He loves it! He ran around the house showing it to everyone! He even wanted to take it to school. And it was the first thing he grabbed when he got home today. (I did good!)