LuLu loses her first tooth!

By January 15th LuLu had been complaining that her two (bottom) front teeth had been loose for days. While YaYa had always been eager to yank 'em out when she had a loose one, Lu chose a more sensible path of waiting for it to come naturally. Unfortunately, one of the two was too loose to be kept in use but too attached to come out on its own.

It was time for intervention.







My dental history reads like a visit to Lawrence Oliver in Marathon Man, and so I leave this tooth business to Lisa.

But LuLu met Lisa's attempts with panic and alarm



and so I had to step in. Cashing in on my reputation for squeamishness, LuLu firmly believed my claim that I just wanted to 'feel the tooth wiggle'. A few good rocking motions and a little 'oomph' and the tooth came out.

My little girl had lost her first tooth!

You cannot imagine the look of happiness and pride on her face. "I can't believe I did it!" she announced with awe.









Then, cue YaYa having a crying fit because we were allegedly giving LuLu more attention than we did her first tooth, which is a crock. Her evidence was that she couldn't find a blog post about her own tooth, which may or may not be true; either way tough tata kid, this was your sister's day.

[YaYa would later leave a note on our bed apologizing for her jealousy (her words) and asking our forgiveness. And, oh yeah, by the way can you make me Pop Tarts in the morning?]

For myself, I was stuck running to Target before they closed for the night. The normal Tooth Fairy donation is a buck, but for the first tooth we like to give a few trinkets instead. When YaYa lost her first tooth we were still living in the old, predominantly Mexican neighborhood. When the tooth gave up the ghost - again, near closing time for most stores - I had to run to the local El Rey grocery store and buy some hair doodads and a Virgin Mary necklace to place under her pillow.

LuLu got a [clearance priced] set of lip gloss in a carrying case and a set of two tooth Firefly toothbrushes that light up for a minute so the kid knows how long to brush.

Included with these items was a computer generated note from the Tooth Fairy, duly printed in a pink font.

[LuLu]

Congratulations on losing your very first tooth! I am so happy for you!
Here is a set of lip gloss for you and two very special toothbrushes. They will tell you how long to brush your teeth - I don’t want you to lose the pretty grown-up teeth you’ll be getting now!
I want you to give one of the brushes to your sister [YaYa] because my spies have told me she doesn’t brush enough!

Always watching,


The Tooth Fairy

She loved the gifts. The very next day she lost the other tooth and promptly dropped it in my bedroom, where it was never to be seen again despite an all-out search.
For that one we just left a note explaining the loss to the Tooth Fairy.

Happily, she didn't seem to mind and left behind a dollar for Lu :)