Picking the boys up from after school care is a rare treat for me. One memorable day, late in April, I was greeted by my youngest son, Tyler, then age 6. He was wearing a very large grin and came running towards me with his arms open wide, saying, "Mommy, Mommy. . . my tooth is loose, my tooth is loose!"
And sure enough. . upon closer inspection, we determined that he did indeed, have a very loose tooth. He showed off his tongue's acrobatic expertise by proudly pushing the tooth in and out and wiggling it so that it hung away from his gums at an impressive angle. In truth, I felt a little queasy.
He recounted how after arriving at school that morning, he realized his the tooth was a little loose. He recalled the story I had told him of my youth involving a very large apple and a loose tooth. Deducting that the apple had been successful in pulling out his own mother's tooth, he decided to give it a try with his own apple at lunch. Obviously he had very pleasing results as the tooth was now barely hanging by a thread. I made sure to congratulate him on his smart thinking.
When we got home, he asked me to wash my hands and pull it out for him. I looked at him in mock horror (well, maybe not so mock - as I have no stomach for that sort of thing) and said, "oh no. . that's a Daddy job for sure. Let's wait for Daddy to get home and he will do it for you."
Well, I could tell by the expression on his face that waiting for Daddy to get home might just be an impossibility, although he did sit down and begin to eat his dinner.
Not three minutes later he came to me showing off his successfully pulled tooth. . . and a whopping proud grin. I said, "WOW, Tyler . . . did you do that?" He nodded, so proud. And we laughed and giggled and hugged over his accomplishment. I told him to run go get a plastic zip lock bag to keep it in so it wouldn't get lost, and to finish his dinner. And that's exactly what he did.
I was checking mail and returning some letters in the dining room, and it was so cute, because every few minutes or so, Tyler would come dancing in, holding up his little baggie with the tooth in it . . . big grin. . saying things like "I'm just a tooth pulling kid, aren't I mommy?" lol Too cute!
He also kept asking Cody if he was mad at him. . . and Cody kept assuring him that he wasn't. To explain this, you have to understand . . . how very jealous Tyler has been in the past when Cody would loose a tooth and get a visit from the tooth fairy. The envy nearly eats him alive! I thought it was sweet for Tyler to keep checking with his brother . . . almost as if had Cody said yes he WAS jealous . . . Tyler would have been able to tone his enthusiasm down! lol I'm not sure he could have contained it!
So everything was fine . . . right? Well it was, until bedtime came and we went upstairs to brush our teeth. Bruce was in the shower as he had just gotten home. The boys had been given instructions to brush their teeth and get into bed with a SHORT movie. I was putting up some clothes that I had folded earlier that evening.
All of a sudden . . . painful, remorseful, horrendous crying began to come from the bathroom. . . the type of crying that you would imagine a parent would exhibit at the news that they had just lost a child. It was Tyler at first . . . and then Cody joined in..... I could not imagine what had happened.
I rushed into the bathroom . . . Tyler was on the floor wailing..... Cody was standing, crying and looking very worried. I glanced over at the sink and the stopper was pulled up with a puddle of water in the sink. I guess . . . someone was trying to make his tooth extra shiny for the tooth fairy. . most likely in an attempt to get the best price possible for the tooth. . . and the stopper had been pulled up a little too late. Ooops.
Tyler was crying at the loss of his tooth.. Cody was crying in concern for his brother's pain.
First things first . . . calm everyone down. Second . . . let's reason this thing out. . .sometimes things go down sinks and Daddy's have tools that can get them out. We opened the cabinet underneath and I showed them where daddy could take of the pipes and find Tyler's tooth. I congratulated him on pulling the plug and turning off the water so his tooth would not be pushed further down the drain. I even tried to pull the stopper out of the sink and see if by chance it had gotten trapped in it. It would not come out.
Tyler was still not calm.
I even told him that the exact thing had happened to me and that my mommy had written a note to the tooth fairy telling her which sink it had fallen into. And that the tooth fairy could make herself small and get teeth out of sinks and small places.
He was not buying it. . he wanted his tooth! Lol
Ironically . . . Bruce was very calm throughout the episode. . continuing to take his shower. I was a little surprised that he agreed to take the sink apart and look for the tooth. . .almost guaranteeing Tyler that he . . . SUPER DADDY . . . WOULD find his tooth. Wow. . he had ME believing him. . and I guess Ty did too, because he calmed down and went to go watch his movie. .waiting for dad to do his magic.
Bruce got out of the shower and I got in. I watched him look into the sink and under the sink. I even asked him to take all the stuff out from under the sink before he did anything because some of the things would not fair well if they got soaked. He sort of laughed at me and said that he did not plan on taking the sink apart.
And then very quietly . . . very sensibly. . he explained to me that we had SEVERAL collected teeth in a small baggie that we keep hidden away (I mean, what do you do with your children's teeth when you collect them for the tooth fairy? lol) . . . and that he planned on going and finding one in that baggie that would fit the description of Tyler's missing tooth!
I'm quite sure he enjoyed seeing my face go through its changes. . from a very surprised and impressed look. . to a slow growing wide grin. Now why hadn't I thought of that . . . and no wonder he remained so calm and confident throughout the whole thing. NO WONDER! Lol
Needless to say . . . Tyler was very pleased and had no clue. All was well once again.