Just like that it was gone; and an old tradition continues.
About a month ago, I took my 5-year-old son Matthew to the dentist for his six-month checkup.
During that appointment, the dental hygienist noticed he had a few loose teeth. Of course, I panicked I had been working hard to keep those in his mouth. I thought something was wrong. You see, in the summer, Matthew was running in our unfinished backyard when he tripped and fell on a rock. He took a direct hit to the mouth and one of his teeth was loose. I thought it might fall out, but after a week it wasn’t loose anymore.
After all of this, when I heard the dental hygienist say a couple of his teeth were loose I thought it was that one.
It wasn’t though. It was a couple on the bottom and one on the top, next to the one that had been knocked loose in the summer.
I asked if this was normal. The dental hygienist asked how old Matthew was and I told her he had just turned five. She said that is was normal for them to start loosing teeth around that age. He may be a little early, but it was normal.
Knowing this, I told Matthew that a couple of his teeth were loose and they may fall out and there might be some blood, but not to worry that was normal.
I also told the daycare provider, Sunday school teacher and grandparents so they wouldn’t freak out.
On Sunday night, we were watching TV, when Matthew come running over and said “Mama my tooth fell out.” I looked in his mouth and sure enough one of the bottom ones was gone.
Luckily, there was not a lot of blood. I asked “Do you know where it is?”
He replied “No.”
So, I walked over to where he had been standing, and saw it just sitting there on the TV stand. Matthew had been jumping up and down at a funny commercial and it had fallen out.
I was really glad that his first tooth fell out at home so I could see his reaction and explain to him that is was normal. He was pretty excited. Then my husband, Steve, and I looked at each other in a questioning manner.
We both knew what needed to be done next. We needed to explain to Matthew about the tooth fairy.
Steve told Matthew that when he was little he would put the tooth he lost under his pillow and the tooth fairy would come, take the tooth and leave money. He also told Matthew that he received a dime from the tooth fairy and I said I was given a quarter for each tooth, but I put my tooth on the dresser next to my bed.
Matthew asked if the fairy was a girl fairy or a boy fairy and I said “I don’t know.”
He had a hard time settling down to go to bed since he had lost the tooth about an hour before bedtime. He put is tooth in a glass on top of his dresser so the tooth fairy could find it without waking him up.
Before I went to bed, I noticed Matthew had his light on. So I went to shut it off. I had to laugh; he must have been trying to stay awake and wait for the tooth fairy because he was uncovered and had a flashlight in hand. I covered him up and went to bed.
On Monday morning, when Matthew woke up he had forgotten about the tooth, but quickly remembered when I asked him if the tooth fairy come. He quickly ran to his room and jumped on his bed to see the top of the dresser.
He said he couldn’t see if the tooth was gone and asked me to look. I looked and sure enough the tooth was gone and crisp $1 bill was in its place.
Matthew had a happy look on his face. The one I see when he is really excited. The one is usually see at Christmas or his birthday.
He asked “Where did the tooth go?”
I said the tooth fairy took it.
He seemed satisfied with that answer and we went on with our morning routine.
When he got to daycare he excitedly told the daycare provider that he had lost a tooth and the tooth fairy took it and left him a dollar. I am sure he will be telling that story all week.
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