On October 1st, Eli lost his first tooth!
We were at Baskin Robins after school with a few buddies. After Eli ate his kid-sized scoop of Halloween Oreo Crunch, he showed one of the mamas the loose bottom tooth that had been flopping around since the weekend. “Want me to try to pull it?” I asked. He’d tried before and let me try before too, but although it got super-wiggly, it hadn’t come out. Eli said yes but gave it a tug himself first. Out it came! So glad this first one didn’t get lost or swallowed! Eli looked surprised but then broke out in a huge, sunny, gap-toothed grin.
Thankfully, we were ready for the Tooth Fairy. When Eli was a baby I got him a tiny green frog pillow from the Rich Frog toy company that has a pouch for safely stowing a tooth. And this weekend I stopped at the bank to get dollar coins to make the deposit from the Tooth Fairy more exciting.
When I was a kid, each tooth earned me a quarter. (We left our tooth in a jelly glass of water on the bedside table and the Tooth Fairy would deposit the coin but leave us the tooth to keep.) We told Eli that the Tooth Fairy would leave him a bigger haul for the first tooth. Eli was thrilled with five gold coins!
Like so much of parenting, the milestone was a little bittersweet. He's growing up so fast! (And we'll soon be responsible for a permanent tooth! So far we've had great dentist visits, but it does up the ante.)
Later that night I pulled down my mom's old jewelry box. In the back with the costume jewelry is one of those plastic eggs from bubble gum machines filled with a slightly-macabre stash of baby teeth from my brother and me. I didn't find them until after my mother died, and it instantly made me smile. Nobody keeps your tooth unless they really love you. Years later, I understand it even better. As soon as Eli's first tooth was out, I held it in the palm of my hand and felt a wash of memories. All those crazy teething nights when he was a baby! There was also the thrilled rush when I finally felt the little bump of Eli's first tooth through his gums; at almost 12 months, Eli was the last of his baby buddies to get one.
Happy sigh.
Here is the memory-lane post about Eli's first tooth. (His first baby tooth was on the bottom right while his first lost tooth is the bottom left.) Click HERE.
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