Crooked Teeth

Finally! The tooth is out! Some assistant at the school couldn't take it anymore (I guess C spent 20 minutes in the bathroom today) and wadded up some paper towel and pulled it out for him.
The tooth took so long to come out that it made me nostalgic. I would not have labeled myself as the type of mother who gets all mushy over my children losing their teeth but first he was the only kid in his first grade class that had not lost a tooth. And then he was the only kid in the second grade. And didn't he just get that tooth? Didn't he just get all those teeth? Wasn't he 11 months old yesterday?
Then a tooth finally came loose but took a month to fall out.
I remember losing teeth his way: tooth gets loose on Monday - tooth is out on Wednesday - half dollar is spent by Friday. Poor Solomon Grundy.
The loss of that first tooth is a huge milestone for a kid. One of the first, along with riding a bike, on that long road of milestones that leads to adulthood. It's bittersweet for parents - like every milestone is - even more so when you have a month to reflect on it, and all the apples in the laundry room go bad because your son with the loose tooth refuses to bite into them.
He must have been a little nostalgic himself. He asked the tooth fairy not to take the tooth - but to still leave him some money.

song: Crooked Teeth • artist: Death Cab For Cutie