All I Want For Christmas Is My Five Front Teeth

Zach's saga of tooth loss has finally come to an end. Yesterday, Zach finally lost his last really loose tooth, resulting in a gap five-teeth-wide in the front of his bite. He has one more subtle wiggler, but it feels like it is going to hold on for awhile, so I think for now the question of, "Will it be today?" is settled. The whole experience has been pretty interesting for Zach, and I wanted to blog it so it would be saved for posterity.

After two months of wiggling (really...we noticed the first loose teeth on August 24th, but one didn't fall out until October 25th!) and Zach praying every night that one of his loose teeth would fall out, one tooth finally did relinquish its grip on Zach's gums and came out when Zach's mouth was bonked by Ben's head in the bathtub. Hooray! But then not so much hooray....about a day later Zach came out of his room after bedtime, crying because he missed his tooth. He said, "It was my favorite tooth, and it was so pretty." I was dreading the loss of the other teeth that were sure to fall out soon because there were four more that were definitely doing the tooth dance.

The second tooth was lost at school. It was ready to come out for two days but Zach wouldn't let me pull on it because he was scared I was going to hurt him, and he would start to cry before I even touched his tooth. It was so loose that when Zach pushed on it during story time it just kind of fell out. But he was happy and excited because he lost it at school, and that is really cool.

The third he lost two minutes before leaving for school. Of course it was a day a friend was picking him up to take him to school, so he was nice and bloody as I hurried him out the door to her car. Just a warning for all my friends who have not dealt with lost teeth since their own, teeth bleed a lot when they fall out. It's not pretty and it kind of freaks your kid out. He wouldn't put number three under his pillow because he was really starting to feel a sense of loss for so many teeth in such a short time. So I told him there was no time limit on when a lost tooth had to be put under a pillow, and as long as he didn't lose it somewhere, or let Josh get his hands on it, the tooth fairy would accept it whenever he was ready.

The fourth tooth he lost at school again. Once again, it was so loose I couldn't stand even looking at it, dangling to the side as it was, but he would not let me get my hands on it. However, he did punch this one out on his own. Yes, I said punch. Yes, his own face. His friends at his lunch table helped him brainstorm ideas for removing his tooth and one of the ideas was that he punch himself in the mouth...so he did. Let me remind you that he wouldn't let me even touch it to wiggle it, for fear I might sneak a pull on it, yet he punched himself in the mouth!! Boys.... He did put both tooth three and four under his pillow that night, and the tooth fairy left him a note thanking him for his special teeth and a two dollar bill for his sacrifice.

This last tooth was the same as all the others...so loose it was going to just drop off on its own...and it did...while Zach slept. I had to search the bed and floor, hoping he didn't swallow it (although my mom said, "Even if he swallowed it you could have still found it, if you really wanted it"....um, no.). Fortunatley, I found it on the floor by his bed. At this point a lost Zach tooth is such an everyday occurrence that we forgot to put it under his pillow last night!

So there you have it. Five teeth in six weeks with many emotional ups and downs. We are glad it is over, and will be happy when some finally come in again so I don't have to cut up everything harder than bread into small pieces. You know, those front teeth are especially helpful in biting and tearing things in pieces small enough to chew. Zach wants his five front teeth, not just so he can wish you a Merry Christmas, but also so he can eat normal foods again!