On Wednesday, October 3 Gillian lost her first tooth. As fate would have it, I happened to be there at lunch helping out in the classroom when Gillian said "OUCH! Mama-I bit my tooth and it HURT!". Then a second later she said "Oh, here it is! It came out!". Instant celebrity. All the kids gathered around as if it was the hottest ticket in town to see her tiny little tooth, freshly plucked from her little mouth with a drop of blood on the bottom for legitimacy.
The teacher, Mrs. K., immediately went into tooth loss mode: whipped out a ziploc baggy and a little cardstock tooth board, wrote the date and "Gillian-congratulations on your first lost tooth!", stuck it in the baggy, and Gilllian proudly displayed it throughout the rest of lunch time. For this was a SPECIAL day-the day she became a big girl (in her own mind, anyway-let me tell you, a lost or wiggly tooth is a status thing in the jetsetting Kindergarten crowd). For me, well I was both proud and verclempt, though above all, relieved-this is proof that Gillian is not enough of a biological Colledge to freakishly hang on to her baby teeth into middle age like her Aunt and Grandfather (the Aunt, into her 50s, had her canines removed and had braces pull the adult teeth down; people like to tell the story of how the grandfather lost his last baby tooth when he was in the war, or something), or lose them really late, like everyone else. I was proud that she was delighted with her bloody little tooth and not freaked out by it. I heard her tell someone that the tooth fairy brings gold coins, and made a mental note for later to get me to the bank for some gold dollars.
And then y'all-after lunch was done and the floors and tables were clean I got in my car and wept like a baby about that little tooth. I wallowed in the realization that my little girl is growing up-a visceral feeling of loss. What can I say- I remember this toothless sweetness:
Gillian decided the box should go under her pillow. We had a discussion about how big the tooth fairy is, and Gillian was a little worried she wouldn't be able to lift the lid of the box (interestingly, she was NOT worried how the tiny fairy would lift her melon sized sleeping head and pull the box out from underneath the pillow, but I digress). I assured her the tooth fairy was hella strong and not to worry, but also at least as tall as her hand is long. Luckily, all the excitement on earth couldn't keep Gillian awake, so she was asleep before she even got her evening back tickle. Still, I waited a bit to swap things out. I fashioned a tiny scroll and wrote this (I wonder if she thought it curious how everyone always seems to nag her to be nice to Addie-maybe Santa gave the TF a heads up that this was a recurring issue):
I tied it with a little ribbon and put it in the little box with the wrapped gold coins. Later, we discussed that the fairy was probably a good 6 inches tall given the size of the scroll and handwriting. At any rate, the fairy left sparkly pixie dust everywhere, and Gillian was beyond herself waking up and discovering this. Faith in magic and everything else, preserved!
(While we're on the subject, I would also like to mention that Addie's teeth have really realigned since the num num went away. They almost look like she never had an oral fixation.)
Every since the tooth loss day, Addie has wanted to read Dr. Seuss' The Tooth Book. Addie likes to look at Gillian's dental crater (and enjoyed marvelling at the tooth itself before it got taken by the TF), but doesn't seem to be wishing for her own. That tells me she's a little creeped out by it, because she always wants everything Gillian has. Anyway, new Milestone-came and went on our high speed trajectory to adulthood.
0 comments:
Post a Comment