Baby Tooth

What is it about baby teeth?

I remember when Ethan got his first one.

I ooohed and aaahed over the barely there little hint of a white fleck in his mouth.

“Now who’s Mommy’s big boy?”

I cooed as I took pictures for MySpace and texted till my fingers burned,

OMG! Ethan’s FIRST TOOTH is coming in!!!!!

That blessed tooth was the highlight of every mommy conversation.

Sitting in the pediatricians office, we would pry open our children’s mouths, to revel that hint of tooth that someday would be.

Comparing stories of discovery,

“It’s so precious!”

Then Ethan got two teeth.

Two. Whole. Teeth.

We laugh and giggle over the stories,

“He bites me all the time! It’s so funny!”

Well Ethan is 6 now and he has a whole mouth full.

I didn’t see myself in this position then, but somehow I find myself a tooth stalker, now that one has come loose.

“How exciting Ethan! You’re getting to be a big boy!...... Let’s pull it out!”

My eyes gleam at this idea and I remember being tied to a string as a child, a door at the other end.

Waiting for the ready single from my mom, which never comes, the door just slams and out pops the tooth.

Every few hours I’m checking on Ethan,

“Sure you don’t want me to pull that out for you?”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

He knows.

My Mom didn’t ask, she demanded.

Because as excited as a mom is to see that first tooth come in, you are three times more anxious for it to come out.

I see Ethan eating an apple,

“Don’t swallow that tooth!”

I’m convinced it will fall out and be lost then forever I will miss the opportunity to fill the keepsakes box with baby teeth.

It’s a weird thing really.

I’m sure there is something psychological behind it.

I remember one of my teeth coming out while I slept and my mother getting so upset,

“What if you swallowed it?”

I don’t know if this was for health reasons for because without that tooth, she would never have the full set.

It’s all very disturbing.

Still, I continue to stalk.

The little bugger is very wiggly today, I think it will be coming out soon.

I’m sure after the first one, it will lose its luster.

But the first baby tooth?

Coming or going, it’s exciting stuff.

My lil-punkin-head is growing up.