I'll Cut Her Some Slack... This Time

We have been talking a lot about the Tooth Fairy in our house lately. Ben's first loose tooth has been wiggling and wobbling for over a month now. I think the excitement of having a loose tooth is a lot more exciting and a lot less scary than the thought of actually loosing that tooth for him, so he has been in absolutely no rush at all to wiggle it out.

But a couple mornings ago, early in the morning, Ben came running down the stairs with his tooth in his hand! He said it just fell out when he woke up! (Yes, it was that loose at the end.) No pain, no blood, no trauma. He was most suprised by how tiny his tooth actually was!

Well, preparations for the arrival of the Tooth Fairy were taken up a notch as we prepared the tooth for its departure. We got it in a baggie and tucked safely away under his pillow, in just the right spot where no one would mess with it (the idea of someone messing with a dead tooth didn't seem like an unlikely situation to him at all.)

We did our part in the process, the rest was left up to this mysterious fairy who collects children's dead baby teeth. Now, I have never met this character, so I'm not sure, but my thoughts are that there might be one head Tooth Fairy, but many other fairies of various levels of experience working under her. We obviously got a newbie. I think this might have been her first time performing her job, in fact!

I'm just guessing here, but here is now I figure it went down: she forgot all about my son's first tooth (monumental of an event as it is) until the very last minute. Early in the morning, she woke in a panic, flew to her money stash, grabbed the money, then desperately tried not to wake an already stirring boy as she searched and searched under his pillow for his well-hidden tooth. I imagine her holding her breath as she does it so as to make as little noise as possible, already coming up with excuses and explanations in her head to explain to the little boy in case he does wake up. She probably cringed as she opened the crinkly bag, certain the noise was way too loud, then, ever so gently, replaced the tooth with money and slid the bag back under the pillow before she made her silent and hasty departure.

She accomplished her mission without detection, but just barely! This being her first time, I'll cut her some slack, but she better be a bit more professional and competent next time!

Another Use For Those New Teeth

Why is it that when little boys bash or gash or slice or dice themselves, they always do it on their adorably perfect little faces?!  A few weeks ago, it was Mitchell attempting to blind himself on one side by head-bashing the coffee table and only narrowly missing his eyeball.  

This week?  The injured one is my sweet little baby boy, Jack.  While Mitchell's gash was scary and traumatic, it was also not his first war wound.  He has already had his face glued back together twice before, so his perfection had already been marred.  But Jack!  His face was untarnished by any lasting cuts and scars so far!

I must say, he has the worst timing for beating himself up too.  Not only was Matt already gone this morning for work, but he took my car!  We were just getting all of us bundled and ready to head out the door to school (and Mitchell's Christmas performance) when Jack fell forward just shy of the coffee table - just close enough to bash his chin down onto it, biting clean through his lower lip.  He plopped down on his bottom, took a deep breath, and then let it rip!  It was one of those wails that takes a really long, scary intake of breath before beginning, to allow for full velocity and feeling!

Now what!?  I have to get these guys to school, Mitchell's Christmas performance is in an hour, I have no car, I am nowhere near a hospital...

My  more cautious friends will shake their heads at me here, but I changed his clothes, cleaned up his gash, gave him some tylenol and some big chunks of ice to suck on/chew on.  He seemed to like that ice pretty well and it really stopped the bleeding.  

We somehow got out the door and got the other boys where they needed to be and Jack went right to sleep when we got back home.  I had plenty of other moms to bounce my story and concerns off of and receive opinions and feedback from at drop-off.  While a few were adamant that I should take him to the ER immediately, most seemed to think that would be unecesary.  The cut is clean and straight and I think it needs no further medical aid, but what a place for a scar!  Why, oh why, do they do this to their faces?  I don't mind if they scar up their elbows or knees or legs or arms.  Those might even look "cool" some day and be shown off to admiring friends who delight in such "manliness."  Perhaps they will proudly show off their facial scars as well, but as a mom, I just have to wonder why it ALWAYS happens on the face!

So Mitchell has had his fair share of medical attention to his face, and now Jack put a new hole in his face.  You better watch out, Ben!  You must be next!  Actually, I'm sure Mitchell will beat you to it...

Part Puppy

I sometimes wonder if the stork brought me the wrong species of baby.  Based on his behavior, Jack often acts more like a puppy than a human.  For example: he LOVES to play fetch!  He even plays it all by himself!  He will throw a ball, then pounce after it on all fours, pick it up with his teeth, laugh a bit, then throw it again.  

And speaking of putting things in his mouth - the boy doesn't just hold things with his teeth or gnaw on a teething toy.  He puts ALL objects he can find into his mouth and really attempts to tear pieces off of it!  I have never observed him actually swallowing the chunks, but he really can rip things apart.  I have found bite marks in many toys and non-toys alike and even found completely shredded things, with a trail of pieces leading back to my little puppy.  

He also uses those magnificent teeth of his to bite me if he can and also uses them as an extra hand, since the two he has are used for getting around.  It is really so cute and quite puppyish when he comes crawling up to me with his little blankie in his mouth; big, round eyes looking up at me, begging me to pick him up.

He pees and poops about as much as a puppy as well and, just like with a puppy, I have to get up in the middle of the night every night to, well, not take him outside to poop (that's kind of a funny thought) but to change his poopie diaper.  

Ah, well.  Puppy or baby boy - he's pretty stinkin' cute and a constant source of laughter and happiness for the rest of us, despite his nightly middle-of-the-night-poops!

A Last First

Well, my baby Jack, you have given us a last first - last first baby teeth have arrived and we are all thrilled about it! Congratulations!  We will never see this milestone of a child's life again and we are so excited (your big brothers especially) to 
watch you grow up!  His two bottom teeth have made an appearance, and what a smile he has!  Ben is very interested in the whole process and asks many questions about teeth in general, but Mitchell just loves those sharp little buggers!  He is willing to brave the dreaded slobber (we call his drool the "Jack attack") in order to stick his fingers in there to feel them all the time.  "Bite me, Jack Jack!"  Who'd of thought getting bitten would be a fun game?  

Jack, you are an adorable, happy little chub, and Mitchell, you are very very brave!

One Way to Get Jesus Inside You...

Both Ben and Mitchell have lately been quite curious about God and Jesus and asking me questions all the time.  Nothing like having to explain what you believe to a child to make you actually think about what you believe and why.  It is a lot more difficult to explain the concept of God than I thought it would be.  Ben gets it a bit more than Mitchell does.  For him, the "invisibility" of God is no problem.  The idea of invisibility is magical and, therefore, easy for Ben (maybe children in general?) to understand.  

Mitchell doesn't quite get the concept yet.  He was asking where Jesus lives and I said that he lives inside us if we want him to.  He thought about the idea of someone inside of him as he drank his smoothie and then said, "If I want Jesus inside me, I could put him in my cup and drink him!  Then he'd be inside me!"  Well, not quite what I was getting at, but it was funny and Ben had a good laugh at that one!

Another thing on Mitchell's mind lately is the idea of baby teeth vs. adult teeth.  He is fascinated with Jack's two new teeth coming in and that sparked the conversation with Matt that he will one day get to grow in some more of his own.  I could tell the talk was worrying him, but didn't say anything.  Later in the day, Mitchell came up to me with a worried look on his face, and, holding back tears, told me he didn't want all his teeth to fall out!   He has reminded me a few times since then that he wants to keep his teeth and that he needs them.  I've given up trying to explain "someday" to him and have just started telling him he can just keep the old ones as long as he wants them.