First Tooth Lost!

The 'bigger kid' milestones really sneak up on me, but they hit me harder in my gut than I expect. Like the first day of school, first time legitimately reading, and now: the first lost tooth.

Obviously it's our beloved first born who gets to introduce us to the bittersweet bigger kid milestones. When I was pregnant with Truman and even before that, I don't think I really envisioned parenting bigger kids. Mostly I was just focused on the more immediate tasks of getting pregnant, and experiencing newborn milestones (oh, first smile is still SUCH a heavy hitter for me!).

So now I'm going to get all sentimental when I think about my fat, bald baby named Truman. I remember when he cut his first tooth. I vividly remember it, actually, because he teethed and had a low grade fever and drooled and was pretty unhappy. IT WASN'T THAT LONG AGO AND NOW HIS TEETH ARE FALLING OUT AND OMG. Truman is a big kid. Hold me. (Love it but it's still craziness!).

For probably about six months, Truman has been losing his mind over wiggly teeth. His classmates started to lose their teeth right at the start of school so all of this school year has been spent with the questions: "When am I going to lose my first tooth? Do you think this one is wiggly? The dentist said it was wiggly? Does it hurt when the tooth comes out? Someone at school said it bleeds. How much money does the tooth fairy bring? Maybe if I get hit in the face by a ball at recess my tooth will come out.'

Yes, seriously. He was willing a ball to hit his face to expedite this process.

So his bottom two teeth were barely loose at all when we started wiggling them at night. Right after his sixth birthday I noticed they might ACTUALLY be somewhat loose. Then in the past two weeks the bottom left tooth got to be legit wiggly and then progressed to disgusting levels of wiggly-ness in the past week.

I got a ton of videos of us wiggling that tooth and it seemed so close to popping out! We tried the floss around the back of the (completely detached) tooth, twisting it, having Truman try pulling it out himself, and even tweezers. The night before Nate and I left for San Diego, Truman wanted us to pull it out so we could be there for the tooth fairy magic. We tried so hard and the bugger even began to bleed, but I just couldn't get the microscopic chomper to release. I knew it was literally hanging on by a thread but that sucker did not want to come out and I didn't want Truman to freak out if the tooth wasn't actually ready. Although, he was really into the tooth coming out and probably would have been fine if we actually did throw a ball in his face.

The first night we were gone in San Diego, we had just finished Facetiming with the kids. Then my phone rings 2 minutes later and it's Truman! And he said, 'My tooth just came out!!!' and we all screamed in delight.

Turns out, Memaw was wrapping him up in a blanket and somehow the tooth got caught on the blanket at fell out. Truman didn't even know it came out but he 'tasted blood' and ran to the mirror to see his new gap. He found the tooth (and then lost it two more times before securing it in his tooth fairy pillow) and proudly called us to show off.



MY BABY LOST A TOOTH. And somehow my mom kept my tooth fairy pillow from the 80s, and therefore Truman has inherited it. The tooth fairy brought him $2 and a hand written note (from GoGo, don't tell him) as per my instructions via California.


Mom said he was SO excited to get to school the next day to show his friends. And everyone was very impressed, even though most of the other kids have lost 2-4 teeth at this point! What I love the most is that his new adult tooth suddenly appeared two days later and it's super bumpy!

Of course, when we got home from San Diego Truman had to show us his bumpy tooth in person within three seconds of seeing us. It IS pretty freaking sweet, even though I'm sure this will be one of those things that is not as celebrated with each successive tooth and child.

I predict that Porter will lose his first tooth, swallow it, and we won't even notice for a week. But with Truman? This has been a long time coming and a HUGE deal for our six year old!! And so, on May 19th, 2016 when Truman was six years, two months, and 18 days old he lost his first tooth.

He is totally destined for braces someday with two parents who passed down our expensive trait of brace faces. But for now his adult tooth is adorable.

Big kid achievement, unlocked!