Sunday, January 29, 2012

teeth & toilet paper

Keats has lost both of his front teeth within the last week. He is very excited and anxiously awaiting the family being healthy enough to head over to the dollar section at Target in order to spend his hard-earned tooth-fairy money.

And I do mean hard-earned.

Keats is the most patient tooth loser I've ever met. Most of the kids take the same approach I did. The tooth is a little loose so you push, prod, and twist that sucker out whether it's ready or not. Not Keats. The tooth can be barely hanging on by a snippet of something and able to be completely inverted in his mouth, but he just keeps on wiggling it.

The secret, I am told, is toilet paper. You must have a small piece of toilet paper with which to grip the tooth while gently moving it back and forth. Without toilet paper, one would have to hold the tooth itself, and that would be gross. Also, without toilet paper, one would have to see the blood on one's fingers, which would also be gross. And the faster you move the tooth, the more blood appears, which is definitely gross.

And so, my patient 6 year old gets his tiny piece of toilet paper (two squares are really all you need) and gently works on his loose tooth for a matter of days until the tooth finally drops into the toilet paper out of sheer exhaustion.

And Scott and I breathe a sigh of relief that the kid isn't going to choke on it in his sleep when it just drops out, without toilet paper.

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