Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tooth Fairy Incorporated
Dominic finally lost his first tooth last night. Or rather, the tooth fairy took a hemostat and pulled it out while he was asleep so we wouldn't have to take him to the dentist to pay lots of money for them to do the same thing. You see, his adult teeth, yes that's right, teeth, are growing in behind his baby teeth, and pushing the baby teeth out, but he won't wiggle them out of his mouth. We were concerned about his teeth being messed up, so we told him to spend his days after the surgery resting, drinking water and wiggling his teeth.
When I was a kid and had loose teeth, wiggling them was all I wanted to do, and they told me not to! Rich says it was the same for him. Our son evidently has not received the dominant tooth wiggling gene. So, we resorted to telling him nightmare stories about having a dentist pull out his teeth for him so his mouth won't be eternally screwed up requiring orthodontia and pain every time they need to tighten them. Hey, if the shrinks are going to blame us anyway, we at least ought to have a hand in messing him up. It didn't work. He still wouldn't wiggle his teeth and his mouth has been looking more and more clownish and distorted.
So, last night, since Dominic fell asleep waiting to do the finishing touches on his science project (or rather Rich's, since he's the one doing most of the work on this, why do schools assign things that require them to grade the parents?) Rich took the opportunity to pull the one tooth that was literally hanging on by a little scrap of gum. Then, he made me promise to play along and not laugh. He shook Dominic awake saying "Look, look Dominic! Look what I found!"
Dominic was still groggy, so he didn't register what was in Rich's hand. He seemed also to think that he still had two loose teeth in his mouth, even when we made him check multiple times. Finally, we just told him that he LOST A TOOTH!!!! Yaaay! We told him to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He was so excited! After we got him in bed, and a sufficient time had passed to assure us that he was asleep, Rich snuck in and put a half dollar under his pillow in exchange for the tooth.
This morning, Dominic was telling his brothers and sister all about his lost tooth and how he now had a half dollar. It was so sweet to see him thrilled like that. Well, Elijah looked at him at the breakfast table and said:
"Dominic, you're rich!"
Dominic replied that you had to have a diamond if you were rich. So I piped up that I had two or maybe even more! Dominic was in awe because, as he told us, diamonds are worth a lot of money, like 1000 pennies!
"They're worth $10, are they?" I asked.
He looked like he didn't know how to take that. Well, we've had a $10 bill sitting on our bar for a week or so, from a rebate check that we just cashed so we could use it to go dancing. I picked it up and showed it to him and said that we just had a $10 bill lying around our house. He said:
"We are rich!"
Rich gave me a squeeze and we said to each other, yes we are.
When I was a kid and had loose teeth, wiggling them was all I wanted to do, and they told me not to! Rich says it was the same for him. Our son evidently has not received the dominant tooth wiggling gene. So, we resorted to telling him nightmare stories about having a dentist pull out his teeth for him so his mouth won't be eternally screwed up requiring orthodontia and pain every time they need to tighten them. Hey, if the shrinks are going to blame us anyway, we at least ought to have a hand in messing him up. It didn't work. He still wouldn't wiggle his teeth and his mouth has been looking more and more clownish and distorted.
So, last night, since Dominic fell asleep waiting to do the finishing touches on his science project (or rather Rich's, since he's the one doing most of the work on this, why do schools assign things that require them to grade the parents?) Rich took the opportunity to pull the one tooth that was literally hanging on by a little scrap of gum. Then, he made me promise to play along and not laugh. He shook Dominic awake saying "Look, look Dominic! Look what I found!"
Dominic was still groggy, so he didn't register what was in Rich's hand. He seemed also to think that he still had two loose teeth in his mouth, even when we made him check multiple times. Finally, we just told him that he LOST A TOOTH!!!! Yaaay! We told him to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He was so excited! After we got him in bed, and a sufficient time had passed to assure us that he was asleep, Rich snuck in and put a half dollar under his pillow in exchange for the tooth.
This morning, Dominic was telling his brothers and sister all about his lost tooth and how he now had a half dollar. It was so sweet to see him thrilled like that. Well, Elijah looked at him at the breakfast table and said:
"Dominic, you're rich!"
Dominic replied that you had to have a diamond if you were rich. So I piped up that I had two or maybe even more! Dominic was in awe because, as he told us, diamonds are worth a lot of money, like 1000 pennies!
"They're worth $10, are they?" I asked.
He looked like he didn't know how to take that. Well, we've had a $10 bill sitting on our bar for a week or so, from a rebate check that we just cashed so we could use it to go dancing. I picked it up and showed it to him and said that we just had a $10 bill lying around our house. He said:
"We are rich!"
Rich gave me a squeeze and we said to each other, yes we are.
