That Tooth's Done Gone

That tooth sure was wiggly this morning. When Baxter spoke, it was hard not to be overly distracted by the awkward sideways angle at which it wobbled. "It's coming out this week for sure," I said to him before school.

When I arrived to pick Baxter up this afternoon, he was running to greet me, neck and neck with his friend Ella. Ella beat him by a hair. "Baxter has news to share!" she sang cheerily. Ella loves to be the 1st to report any news; she'd make a great reporter. Baxter dove into my arms and began to sob. "Did he lose that tooth?" I asked Ella and the rest of the kids crowded around us. "Yes, but I lost it!" he wailed into my shirt. His teacher approached us and explained apologetically that Baxter put it into his pocket but then somehow lost it. "The whole class searched all over the floor for it," she told me. "Even I was down there looking for it," said his 60-something year old teacher, laughing. She subtly indicated to me that he was very upset and crying about it. I reminded Baxter that I once lost a tooth in a shag carpet (God bless the 70s) and had to write the Tooth Fairy a note, explaining what had happened, and that everything had turned out just fine. He nodded, but was still visibly heartbroken. Moments like this one make me wonder if everyone experiences this much high drama about such things, or if the universe is just giving me something to put on the blog, knowing it's been two weeks.

On a whim, I stuck my hand into the deep pocket of his pants and fished around. "I found it!" I exclaimed, and was met with great cheers from everyone. There was his little tiny tooth, the very one I can still see popping up through his gums when he was 5 months old. It caused him so much pain then that I am glad he is able to put it under his pillow and get some small reward for it now.

Speaking of which, Matt suggested we take the advice of the author of "The Three Martini Playdate" (a book we both greatly enjoyed), and dole out a Sacagawea gold coin for each lost tooth. They are unusual, worth a whole dollar, and bear a fabulous resemblance to the gold coins pictured in pirates' treasure chests in story books. We picked up a handful of these at the bank today and are ready for Tooth Fairy action. Baxter's tooth is under his pillow in a small paper envelope made by his teacher. He will be thrilled beyond words to find this gold coin in its place.

I asked him how it had come out. "I pulled it myself," he said proudly. "What made you do that?" He pointed shyly at me. "Because you did that once," he remembered.

Just to celebrate this special occasion with Baxter this afternoon, I did what any fun-loving parent would do: walked him straight over to Jamba Juice to get a smoothie that he could drink with a straw that could stick right through that gap in his mouth. I'm not sure which of us was more pleased.