Tooth Troubles

It's a well-known rite of passage in life to lose our baby teeth. They fall out (or, in some cases, get pulled out), and we place them under our pillows for the Tooth Fairy.

My kids have never just pulled them out.

They have to get the tooth to a certain point and then let it just hang by a "thread." (It's really kind of gross.) But eventually the tooth's last thread gives way (or "crumbles in a cloud of dust," as Edward said about his latest tooth's roots), and the tooth is ready for its final pillow presentation.

Emily has lost all of her baby teeth now.

Edward has lost just three...four, if you count the one he just lost this morning.

...

The funny thing about parenting is how easy it is to become nostalgic about our kids.

I mourned the passing of each and every one of Emily's stages. She seemed to grow up in seconds.

I was a bit stronger with Edward and just enjoyed/accepted the passing of his stages as a normal part of childhood, eagerly awaiting the next one.

Until a few days ago...when Edward began wiggling one of his top front teeth.

...

The thing about little kids is that they have little front teeth. It's a mark of age to see a 5-, 6-, or 7-year-old with his/her little teeth. Somehow these little teeth keep the kids younger a bit longer -- at least in my mind.

Then they lose these teeth and have that cute gappy smile for awhile.

Then their big teeth come in, and the kids grow bigger (a. k. a. older) -- seemingly overnight.

It's a rite of passage...

A normal stage in life, right?

And, thus far, I've been really good about accepting these for Edward.

But somehow I wasn't ready for this one. I felt blindsided by it. It was that time already??

*Sigh.*

After all, they grow and change so quickly...in mere seconds it seems.