Conor Lost His First Tooth

Every so often (ok, practically daily), our kids remind us in some way that they are growing up and are no longer our wee little babies. Well, yesterday, Conor proved that he is constantly eeking toward adulthood by losing his first tooth!

He'd asked for an apple as a snack (no problem!) and a short bit later, returned asking for it to be cut up because biting into the apple was hurting his loose tooth (lower, right). Eric took a peek into Conor's mouth and said that the tooth was probably ready to come out. Once he said that, Conor started to debate whether he (not the tooth) was ready, and Annika ran to the freezer to fill a cup of ice to prepare for the big event.

It didn't take Conor long to agree to having his tooth pulled out. Annika was a marvelous coach and told him how it wouldn't hurt and she knew he was brave. (It was really sweet!)

Before I had time to grab my camera, Eric already had the floss around Conor's tooth and he was ready to pull it. I actually had to hold him off for a second while I got my camera settings where they needed to be (I'm so persnickety!).

With one good tug, out popped the tooth!! It didn't just pop out ... that sucker went FLYING! All four of us were looking for it on the ground. Fortunately, Annika spotted it near Conor's foot ... whew!

We quickly got ice in a paper towel for his mouth. All the while, Annika kept proclaiming how proud she was of Conor and singing his bravery praises. "I'm so proud of you, Brother! You were SO BRAVE! You did SUCH A GOOD JOB!" (Future life coach?)

Later in the evening, I whipped up a quick tooth pillow for Conor to use at bedtime. Which he promptly misplaced before bedtime (whoops!). Annika loaned him her tooth container so he could leave his tooth for the Tooth Fairy, who left him a lovely note and a $1 gold coin.

His lower left tooth is fairly wiggly, too, so I have a feeling we'll be doing this all over again in the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Goodbye little tooth

Holey smile

 

Conor and his tooth losing life coach

Big kid!

Annika's Before/After Tooth Pictures

I just realized I never posted Annika's before/after pictures from losing her first tooth. (Not earning many points for the Mom of the Year award at this pace!)

It tickles me how her speech changed after the tooth came out... she spoke with a bit of a slurr for a couple of days.

Before

The tooth!

Gnawing on ice in a paper towel to help stop the bleeding

After

Annika's First Missing Tooth

On Tuesday (July 16, 2013), Annika reached a childhood milestone: she lost her first tooth.

To be exact, she didn't truly lose it, but it is no longer in her mouth. After dinner, she came up to Eric and me and said that she felt a cavity. Quite perplexed, I asked her to show me. Instead of seeing a hole in her tooth, I saw her demonstrated the ability to basically pull so far back on her loose tooth that we could see its underside. Yeah.... definitely time for it to come out.

As soon as we told her it was time for the tooth to come out, she freaked. The idea of it completely set the poor girl into mountains of fear and anxiety. We tried to calm her down, but no to avail. Eventually, though. with the help of many deep breathing sessions and the promise to let her have music playing through her headphones during the procedure, she agreed to let Eric pull her tooth.

It took a try or three for Eric to get a good grip on that wee little tooth, but one he did, it popped right out. Once it was out, Annika became the most excited girl history has ever seen. She was beaming and bounding ... proclaiming that she's such a big girl now. We were amazed by how she reacted to her lost tooth.... especially considering we were doing some serious breathing exercises just a few minutes before.

Needless to say, Annika rushed to put her tooth in the tooth pillow we'd made. About an hour later, it was time for bed. She was still buzzing with excitement, but did get herself to sleep ... I'm sure it was quite a feat for her to even close her eyes.

The next morning, she was greeted with a golden dollar and a note from the Tooth Fairy. We were greeted with the same excitement, energy, and enthusiasm we'd witnessed the night before. Conor was feeling a bit left out by this point, so he began announcing that his teeth were loose, too.  (Nice try, little man.)

We explained to her that a dollar is worth 100 pennies; after arriving at school, she showed one of her teachers the hold her tooth left behind and proclaimed "the Tooth Fairly gave me 100 dollars!!" I quickly jumped on that and corrected her that she, in fact, got a dollar that was worth 100 pennies. (The Tooth Fairy would be broke by the time our kids baby teeth were all gone if that was the case... OY!)

Annika has another loose tooth and, now that the first tooth is gone and she realizes it isn't traumatic to loose a tooth, she can hardly wait for it to come out. I think we have a few more weeks, though.

I'd like to note that while the idea of our baby girl being old enough to lose her teeth did stab me in the gut a bit, I was able to control myself and not cry about it. (Mom win!!)

Toothless in Seattle