Gone, Fair and Square!

Take a look at this, will you?

When he discovered the looseness of his two bottom-center incisors last June, he wiggled and worked them both out of his bloodied gums within half an hour. N-A-S-T-Y. His gums looked like hamburger, like he'd been punched in the mouth. He was given a firm and lengthy lecture on the evils of yanking your teeth out before they're ready. We told him that pulling them out early is cheating, and the Tooth Fairy won't come for kids who cheat.

Of course, those being the first two teeth ever, the Tooth Fairy let him slide just that once.

Mighty B. does everything "full throttle," even the stuff he can't consciously control. When he was small and started teething, there was no "break" between episodes. His baby teeth pretty much slammed through the gums all at once. He should have dehydrated from all that drooling. Mealtimes were a dreaded, toe-curling, excruciating experience, worse than the c-sections that delivered him and Precious Daughter. Feeling like an awful mother, I ended up pumping and bottle feeding for several months before giving up the ghost and switching to formula. My nipples just couldn't take it any longer.

Anyway, prior to the somewhat-untimely departure of those first two teeth in June, he took a nasty spill at the House Fairy's one afternoon, smacking his mouth and loosening his upper- and lower-center incisors. I took him to the dentist for a look-see. Dr. S. gave him a quick x-ray and told me that they'd be falling out soon anyway and not to worry about it. The upper teeth tightened up a little and I stopped worrying.

So, last Friday, Mighty B. reports his upper tooth loose, and The Oracle and I were on constant watch for "unnecessary roughness" with it. I reminded him several times that Precious Daughter's top teeth took forever to fall out (two to three months at least). If he had to wiggle, the only tooth wiggling permitted was with his tongue.

Last night he was dying to play with that tooth. It was flopping quite a bit and I coudln't blame him, but it was still connected rather securely on one side. He was disappointed but really, really good about it because he wants the gold coins from the Tooth Fairy. When he went to bed I told him I thought it would hold on until this afternoon.

This morning, he asked me to pleeeeaaase try taking it out, it was bothering him. I was only going to do it "for show," because I wanted him to finish breakfast and get his tailfeathers on the bus. Y'see, when Mighty B. gets a notion and insists upon it, any resistance can escalate to nuclear war in a matter of minutes. You really have to pick your battles with Mighty B., and I decided that today wasn't the day for battle. Our morning was actually going well for once, and I didn't want to spoil the mojo.

I reluctantly grabbed a clean tissue and gave a very gentle tug, barely a nudge. The thing popped right out and his gums didn't bleed a drop.

Really, this is early for a five-year-old kid in my view. Precious Daughter didn't start dropping teeth until she was six.

If the permanent teeth behave anything like the first set, the Tooth Fairy had better get to the bank and stock up on dollar coins.