On Teeth

I've read somewhere that if you constantly dream of losing your teeth then it possibly means that you have a deep rooted fear of aging, growing old, and losing your youthfulness.

What about when our children lose their teeth? How's that supposed to make us feel? I know I'm not old, but it doesn't make me feel incredibly young.

Kids get super excited about this for some reason. I've been hearing for the past year and a half now about teeth: Why aren't her teeth loose yet? Why are other kids losing their teeth and she isn't? When do they get loose? Why aren't they loose yet? Maybe if I give her incredibly crunchy foods it will help in the process...

My oldest daughter has been complaining about her lower front tooth hurting. Sometimes it's hard to gauge with her what's going on and if things are as she says they are. Yesterday morning she started screaming in excitement about her tooth being loose. I hate to say it, but with this child, I must always remain a skeptic until I see with my own eyes and can evaluate. I stuck my finger in her mouth and it wiggled. It was/is, in fact, loose. My initial reaction: (and yes, I completely veiled it as excitement for my child) Complete Horror. I was surprised with myself. Slightly upset that I am so emotional over a tooth. It's like those dreams that I never had really had are being realized in my reality and it's not ME loosing teeth, it's my child. I have a child. Old enough. To have teeth fall out of her mouth. And not by accident.

That's insane.

I'm happy for her. We've had the discussion about the Tooth Fairy: I told her it's all just for pretend (I know! I know! I just don't want to be known as a liar later!!!), it's Mommy and Daddy pretending and it's ok for her to pretend there's a Tooth Fairy because other kids might really believe and that's ok. And I told her that even though I know it's me, even I still like to pretend there is a Tooth Fairy, too. Mommy is just crazy like that.

And now begins the debate on the going rate for teeth. I said $5- there are only so many baby teeth and this IS the first one. My husband was shocked and said it should be a quarter. I talked him up to $1. I guess he's right. We have three kids, each with what? Twenty teeth that will eventually fall out? That's $300 Tooth Fairy Dollars that come out of our pockets... Ok. So maybe $1 it is!

And now I am certain to cry when the baby's teeth start making their appearance.

It really DOES go by fast...