For weeks our kindergartener has been wiggling one of his teeth. When we sent him to school on Monday, I told him that if it came out, he should go to the teacher.
At the end of the school day when I arrived to pick our boys up, he came running with a little plastic tooth container in his hand.
“Mama, look! I lost my tooth!”
Can any joy in life compete with the thrill of losing your first tooth? He had a few teeth pulled earlier this year, but this tooth is the first to fall out on its own. Our little boy is growing up. And he was so, so, so excited.
All night we have talked about nothing else.
“So I was walking with my friends and I was just wiggling it and then it came out! And there was just a little blood, and I just randomly ran up to my teacher and showed her! And everyone was so happy and Andy said, ‘This is your lucky day!’ And then I couldn’t wait to tell you and did the teacher email you, Mama? Because I wanted to tell you—and I can’t believe I lost my tooth on Grandpa’s birthday!”
He stopped to take a breath long enough to visit his grandparents’ house to help his grandfather blow out his candles. Then we climbed in the car to head home and the excitement just kept coming.
“…And I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring! If she brings $100, I will buy an Xbox 360, but I don’t know if she will bring $100. Maybe she will bring lots of coins because I do like coins. And I can’t believe my tooth came out! And I was the first one in my class, well, I think I was the first one in my class, and everyone was so happy. And now the Tooth Fairy will come!”
Somehow, magically, our little boy fell asleep tonight.
And the Tooth Fairy will come. She won’t bring $100 or leave an Xbox 360 because that can’t possibly be the going rate in our neighborhood. But I bet she’ll leave some coins.
And I could be wrong, but I bet she’s pretty excited, too.