Snaggletooth

When Rudy and I were in Florida, Mom sent me a text telling me that Caleb had a loose tooth.  I couldn’t believe it!  I didn’t expect him to start losing teeth until he was in school.  Sure enough, that tooth got looser and looser over the next couple of weeks.  We checked it every now and then, but it seemed like it was hanging in there for a while. 
On Wednesday night (6/29), Kathy and Heather were at the house because Kathy was going to babysit Nola while we went to the rodeo. We sat down to eat spaghetti and Caleb started saying that his tooth hurt.  I looked in his mouth and that poor tooth was bleeding like crazy.  Rudy and I swooped him up and took him into our bathroom to investigate the situation without everyone having to watch Caleb bleed while they ate.  Rudy stood Caleb on the bathroom counter and started wiggling that tooth.  The more he wiggled, the more Caleb cried and yelled.  Rudy and I both thought about the old tie-a-string-to-a-doorknob trick, but neither of us have fond memories of that, so we opted not to do it. 

After much wailing and wiggling of teeth (tooth, really), Caleb was finally free of his loose tooth.  We rolled up a wet paper towel for him to bite on to stop the bleeding and then made a big to-do about the big event.

I mean, really – how cute is this little snaggletooth?!?

The best part of this whole story is that now Caleb has that missing tooth lisp.  Rudy and I have tried not to make a big deal out of it, but it is so stinking cute when he says, “My name ith Caleb Villineth” and asks if we can “thee if another tooth is looth yet.” 
So, what about the Tooth Fairy, you ask?  Well, Rudy and I talked about it.  We decided to stick with our plan of not pretending that tooth fairies and Santas are real.  We told Caleb that people might ask him about the T.F., but that wasn’t something we believe in in our family.  We don’t tell other people they are wrong, we just don’t believe it for ourselves.  He insists that (just like Santa Claus), the fairy is quite real and we are just too dumb to know the truth.  I’m not arguing with him about it, but he’ll never be able to say I didn’t tell him the truth.  I’m not sure how he justifies the fact that the TF didn’t come to our house that night.  Instead, we offered him a “Tooth Treat” of his choosing.  I expected him to want a toy or something of that nature, but instead, he asked to go swimming as his treat.  His daddy gladly obliged. 
I’m still trying to decide what to do with that first lost tooth.  I’m checking some fun websites for ideas.  I’ll let you know what I come up with…