tiny teeth

L announced to me that her tooth was loose and ready to fall out.  I brush it off, assuring her that she was still too young for her teeth to fall out.  She insisted, I insisted and then she countered with saying something about the tooth fairy coming to visit.  Having discovered the reason behind her hope, I told her that if she pulls her tooth out before its ready, the tooth fairy can't come visit.  So she asked how old she needs to be for the tooth fairy to visit.  and then I realized that I actually don't know.  So I told her I would find out.  A few minutes later, I was Google-ing it on my phone and she burst out, "mom! did the tooth fairy text you?!"  To which I wittingly answered, "uh...yeah, she texted me."  Turn out, kids loose their teeth usually at age 5 but as early as 4!  So once again, my little girl is bigger than I realized and ready to lose her teeth.  So I told her that as soon as she was in kindergarten, the tooth fairy would be ready to visit.  And sure enough, shortly after school started...

I walked in the door a few weeks ago and was greeted by a very excited little girl with a huge gap in her mouth and a giant grin.  It fell out easily as she was eating.  So we wrote a note to the tooth fairy and much to her delight, found a dollar under her pillow. 

So her bottom left tooth went first, followed shortly by her top left tooth (just before picture day), giving her a rather lop-sided jack-o-lantern smile.  This one has been loose for a few months, and was barely hanging in.  Once the teeth were out, the new tooth was already visible and slowly peeking its way into place. And today, tooth #3 (bottom right) came out too.  It wasn't as loose as the first two and may have had a little more help wiggling itself loose.


We also had our first dentist appointment.  I took both of the big girls in for their first exam and cleaning.  They did great.  A bounced around curiously, asking questions and eager to know everything.  L was a little more timid and quiet and happily zoned into a cartoon show during the cleaning.  A reported no cavities, no loose teeth and no concerns.  L was not so lucky.  The dentist teased her about her loose teeth and found three cavities.  So we returned the next day to take care of the "sugar bugs".  She zoned in on the movie and our clever patient dentist was so good with her that she never saw the needle or even really understood what was required.  She did great through the first two cavities and broke rather abruptly during the third, tensing, grabbing my hand and squirming.  But she was good and made it to the end, earning her prizes and my praise for being such a good, patient kid.