I knew that the Halloween candy was going to ruin my children's teeth! Just kidding. Today, while I was busy cleaning out a closet, Bode and Gianna were entertaining themselves. After I put Gianna down for a nap, I was hanging out with Nico and Bode. Bode started telling me something when I spied something reddish brown in his mouth. Or, rather, the absence of something white in his mouth.
His hand went up to his mouth. He had no idea what I was talking about. I peered inside his mouth. There was a gaping hole where there once was a tooth.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" I demanded again, as my heart began fluttering in my chest.
"Nothing! What's wrong? Is my tooth gone?" Bode started to cry, big tears appearing on his cheeks.
I quickly changed tactics. Smiling, I tried to hide my nervousness. "Nothing's wrong," I replied. "It's just that your tooth is missing."
"Oh, no!" he wailed and started crying anew.
I wanted to cry, too. I asked him what he was doing earlier and if he remembered losing his tooth. I did a mental checklist of everything I had seen him eat that morning. He told me that he didn't remember losing his tooth. He gave me a vague story of him and Gianna wrestling with the ladybug. He may have had the ladybug in his mouth while Gianna had the ladybug in her hand, he explained.
By this time, my heart was doing some kind of Martha Graham inspired dance in my chest. I didn't know what to do. I ran upstairs and into Bode's room. I searched around on my hands and knees. And then I spied something small and white by his door.
His tooth.
His precious baby tooth.
It is small, white and has a roundish hole in the bottom of it, where I suppose the root was living at one time.
If it were any smaller and had been lost in the kitchen, I would have dismissed it as a grain of rice.
I texted RWF. I didn't know what to do. I cupped Bode's tiny tooth in my hand and went back downstairs. I saw RWF pull into our driveway and I ran outside.
Without turning off the car's engine, RWF asked me what was wrong. I told him that Bode had lost a tooth. We talked about what to do. Bode seemed emotional, so we opted to be cheerful and positive about his lost tooth.
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| He wasn't too keen on posing for the camera and finally did open wide! |
I went back inside and called a dentist friend while RWF talked to Bode. My dentist friend explained that there was really nothing to do. I found an empty jewelry box and, returning to Bode, I announced that we'd keep the tooth in the box. RWF and I had a whispered mini conference about the Tooth Fairy. We decided the Tooth Fairy was the positive spin we needed for this story. So we told Bode about the Tooth Fairy and he gave us a disbelieving laugh. This is characteristic for Bode. He has already told me that the Switch Witch can't be real. He has doubts about the Tooth Fairy, too. (I wish he wasn't such a realist.)
He talks with a "ssll" or "sshh" sound right now. And I'm having to force myself not to overreact every time I see the gap where there once was a tooth. I have felt anxious and sad all afternoon. And yes, all over a lost tooth. But maybe it's not about the tooth. I went through closets and boxes today and finally, finally (finally!) purged Gianna's and Nico's baby clothes. Maybe it's not about the tooth at all. Maybe this is about how nothing ever stays the same.
I hate surprises.
Happy Saturday.xo
