Loose Tooth - Take Two

When I got to my mom’s yesterday evening, my mom told me that Olivia hadn’t stopped eating for the last two or so hours. She snacked on cookies, Jello, some yogurt, a cereal bar and some strawberries.

As I stood talking to my mom, Olivia joined us in the kitchen and said, “Um, Gram? I’m still hungry.”

My mom gave her another cookie. O stuffed the whole thing in her mouth and walked away.

About three minutes later, she was back. Her mouth was still very full and she was trying to tell us something. Once she’s swallowed most of her cookie, she informed us that her tooth hurt.

We looked in her mouth and could see why. The bottom left front tooth was askew and a little bloody. When she overfilled her mouth with cookie, she’d wiggled the already-loose tooth even looser. It’s not hanging by a thread.

And it’s driving her nuts.

This will be her second lost baby tooth. The first one never even seemed all that loose until one day when I got home from work Tom informed me that she’d lost it during lunch. And yes, she’d swallowed it. Ick.

O’s first thought this morning was, “Is my tooth still loose?”

I suggested she wiggle it with her tongue and tell me if it was loose.

It was. (Duh.)

She asked, “Is it going to be loose forever?” (She uses the word forever a lot. Like if Alyssa sleeps past 6:30, “Is Lyssie going to sleep forever?” Or is Alyssa spends the night with a friend, “Is Lyssie going to stay with her friend forever?”)

I told her that of course it wouldn’t be loose forever, that it would fall out and a bigger tooth would grow in its place.

She liked that idea. But not nearly enough to let me reach in and pull that sucker out for her.

She’s learned her lesson with letting me touch anything that needs pulled out/off. She hates having bandaids pulled off and I hate that they stick to her skin for days or even weeks if I let them. So I put her in the bath, tell her I’m just going to loosen the edges and snatch that thing right off. It’s not pretty but it doesn’t last long and I feel like that’s kinder than just pulling a little at a time.

That tooth, though? I don’t think she’s going to let me anywhere near it. I’ll just keep reminding her that it’s going to annoy her until we get it out. We’ll see who can hold out the longest.