Ryan’s first tooth has been loose for a few weeks, and he has been very adamant about letting it fall out on its own. I have checked it every night since I’ve been back in town. Last night it felt like I could have pulled it out, but he didn’t want me to.
Ryan brushes his teeth on his own, and then when he’s done I do a follow-up. I am usually in the bathroom with him when he starts, but tonight I was helping Cole in the other room. When I got into the bathroom, Ryan was finishing his teeth and I took his toothbrush, like I always do. He stopped me so he could spit out the toothpaste he had in his mouth. As soon as I started brushing, I saw the blood and stopped. I told him his tooth had fallen out!
Cole immediately started to cry- he seems to have a thing about teeth and the Tooth Fairy, but that’s another story. I asked Ryan if the tooth was in his mouth. He put his hand in his mouth and then saw the blood on his hand and started to cry too. I have been telling him for weeks when he loses his tooth, it will bleed for a little bit. Evidently, that prepping didn’t help. I gave him a washcloth, and tried to calm him down. I asked him if the tooth was in his mouth, and he said no. He was scared we couldn’t find his tooth.
I felt so sorry for him. He said a first grader had told him just today that his sister swallowed her tooth and she died. So I reassured him no less than twenty times, that swallowing a tooth will not cause you to die. It finally dawned on me that he probably had spit it out with his toothpaste, right before I started brushing his teeth, because he never swallows toothpaste.
If I were handy with a wrench, I would try to take the sink apart to see if I could find it. It is his first baby tooth after all. But considering I’ve never done that before, this probably isn’t the best time to try to figure out a project like that.
So we will not have his first baby tooth to give to the Tooth Fairy tonight. Ryan arranged his pillows special, so she won’t have any trouble leaving him some money. On a side note, I have been trying to decide what the going rate is for the Tooth Fairy is these days. Ryan seems happy when he gets a quarter, but also knows paper money is worth more, so I think he will be very happy with $2 for his first tooth. I plan to tell him subsequent teeth only bring in $1.
Here is Ryan with his brand new smile:
