Long in the Tooth

Haven't posted as of late, I guess I was non-inspired since Sophia had traveled to Venezuela for eight days and I guess this left me with a void. Suffice to say she's back...and with her came the same old wiggly front tooth I sent her away with, you know the one--the first front tooth. She had lost her real "first" tooth oddly enough on Christmas Eve, it was a minor player in the mouth, the front bottom one....of course it presented traffic problems in the house that night as I had to set out refreshments for both Santa and the tooth fairy, not to mention a note to each informing which snack was for who...Phew..Anyway back to the current oral crisis, the Big Kahuna front tooth, loose for weeks on end now, and nearing the conclusion just prior to her departure for Venezuela, I was sure it would be out by the time I picked her up in Miami. How she managed to squeeze another eight days out of that tooth I'm not sure, it was to the point of "flopping" when she spoke. She almost started to sound like Winthrop in the "Music Man", turning her "S's" into "TH's"...still no matter what incentive I offered (and I offered a King's ransom) she wouldn't pull it out.

So I began a new campaign; an all new strategy intended to get that tooth under her pillow. I began preparing foods that might precipitate the ouster of this already "Famous Fang"...corn on the cobb, crunchy garlic bread...and the most secret weapon? No more ice cream desert in the bowl...it was now to be served in a cone. Despite the intended results, Sophie was able to gnawl through her foods like a hamster, adapting to her "flapping in the wind" tooth and eating on her side teeth...she was more than up to my strategy...I had to regroup.

Finally, on Friday night I noticed that the "pint sized chicklet" was now literally hanging by a pulpy string of flesh, I could have blown on it and knocked it loose--yet still she was able to eat her meals, devour her desert and brush her teeth, all done with such skill as to not interfere, displace or touch the "wiggly one"!? I fully admit to considering sneaking in and plucking it out myself....yet I knew I had to let "nature" run it's course.

Low and behold I found myself dreaming away Saturday morning only to be awoken by a tickling sensation in my hand....slowly opening my eyes I saw Sophie trying to place her little pearl white tooth into my palm. I awoke to see her gapped toothed smile proudly retelling the tale of how she awoke to find her tooth missing...she subsequently did a cursory search of her sleeping area and found the little nugget. Can I tell you how proud she was? It was as if she had been working for weeks to bring this event to a conclusion....(I guess in her way she was)-and here she was now, telling anyone and everyone she spoke to about her "tooth".

Funny how your child's life serves as a mirror to your own...God knows I haven't given any thought to losing my own tooth probably since I did it 37 years ago. But it all came back to me, the feeling of relief and accomplishment when you cross one of the many "milestones" of your pre-adult life. And losing your first front tooth is just that- a milestone, one I'm sure she won't forget and neither will I as I immediately got my camera and captured as many images as I could of her little face beaming with pride over her new gap.

A short footnote to this event would be the going rate for the "Tooth Fairy"....suffice to say this is one instance I'm happy to be a parent to only one child. Lets just say it costs about a pizza these days due to inflation and such, still it was worth every penny.