Saturday, September 26 Carter lost his first tooth! It had been a little wiggly for only a couple days before it fell out while he was eating an over-ripe banana. He didn’t even realize it was gone until Daddy pointed out that he had a gap. We couldn’t find the tooth at first and were worried that he’d swallowed it. Happily, we found it on the napkin in front of him.

Carter had been very excited when it wiggled. He was excited when it first fell out. But a couple hours later, you would’ve thought that his best friend had died by the way he was sobbing! INCONSOLABLE! He was beside himself with grief over the loss of this tooth. He even suggested that maybe he could get braces on his teeth to keep any more from falling out.

We tried everything to console him. We told him that a new one would grow in its place — but he argued that it would be a big one (and let’s be honest, big teeth do look a little funny in small kids). We also told him that he didn’t have to leave it for the tooth fairy. But he was committed to the process and that was not a viable option. Somehow he had gotten into his mind that the tooth fairy turned the tooth into money. When I suggested that she simply took the tooth with her and left money in it’s place, he patiently pointed out (between heaving sobs) that tooth fairies are only “this big” (fingers about 3 inches apart) and therefore not big enough to carry money with them so clearly they had to turn the tooth into money instead. It seemed so obvious when he explained it that I felt a little silly for not realizing it on my own!

Eventually, he calmed down enough to eat a hamburger at Mooya. Unfortunately, the waterworks started again at bedtime. And of course, to make matters worse, just three days earlier I had gone to a training about how traumatic childhood losses, if not handled properly, could result in a whole score of issues later in life — think addiction, exploitation, and the list goes on. So I couldn’t help but worry just a little that one small, insensitive gesture could send him spiraling into a life of ruin.

He ended up sleeping upstairs in the playroom that night because the poor little tooth under his pillow was just too much for him to bear. This should have made it easier for the tooth fairy, but somehow, when he came in the next morning with his tooth-fairy haul it included four dollars rather than the three that the tooth fairy thought she left. Fortunately, Raine didn’t seem to notice the discrepancy.

As you can see, the tears and drama of the day before were long gone the next morning.