Cha-Ching...

"Can we go see the Dentist?"

He waited nearly two weeks and ate nearly two dozen apples for his wiggly tooth to loosen up. When he arrived home after school he was grumpy and annoyed that it wasn't out yet. Nearly exasperated. That and he was ravenous.

"Have an apple, Lewis."

But he just continued to whine, and so, I asked if I could take a look. When I touched it to check how loose it was, it was hanging by a thread, as the old saying goes. One quick yank and it was out much to his astonishment. No time for tears. He was simultaneously surprised and ecstatic for 15 minutes. I haven't seen him so proud.

After inspecting his new smile and the article in question, Alyssa stated, "Well, sharks have better teeth than we do, you know. They can keep losing teeth and keep growing them back. Isn't that interesting?" She reached for an apple.

We put the tooth in a small, transparent orange plastic zipper coin purse. (He bought it at the School Fair last Friday). He took it everywhere: next to his dinner plate, in his tight grasp while bouncing on the trampoline, at the wash basin as he brushed the remainder of his teeth, and then its final resting place: under the pillow.

Alyssa asks, "HOW will the tooth fairy find the tooth under Lewis' big pillow?"

I suggested that the tooth remain in the small coin purse, but Lewis would have none of it. He insisted passionately that the tooth fairy would not be able to open said purse "because it has tiny hands". I reminded him of the fact it was almost lost twice since it had been removed for an impromptu & meticulous inspection while dressing for bed. And twice, I miraculously diverted near disaster and a dire crisis of profound sobbing, discovering it on his bed and then again on the floor behind a table leg.

"Mom, the fairy has tiny eyes."

I couldn't argue that and Alyssa was strangely quiet. So, he readily agreed to place it under his pillow as long as he lay perfectly still and went to sleep right away. Nothing came up for negotiation.

So, how much for my little boy's very first tooth, probably the very first that came in when he was only six months old? Not a cavity on it. Looks quite clean. (Oh, my baby is growing up.)

Lewis said, "My friend Oscar at school put his tooth under the pillow and the tooth fairy brought him 10 cents!" -his eyes lit up. Alyssa and I were very impressed.