Recently I noticed that another of Olivia’s teeth was loose. It was the one just to the right of her front teeth. When I looked closely, I could actually see the permanent tooth pushing its way in behind the baby tooth.
That permanent tooth was actually moving the baby tooth almost daily. It was being moved both forward and to the right. It was becoming unsightly, if you want the truth.
Finally, last Saturday, I’d had enough. She wouldn’t let me wiggle it, she refused to wiggle it herself and it needed to come out.
I offered, “Hey, Liv, if you get that tooth out today, I’ll let you pick out a toy at Walmart.”
Her face lit up. She knew JUST what she wanted.
Alyssa looked on with doubt. She was pretty sure even the lure of a new toy wasn’t going to be enough to get Olivia to yank that tooth out.
I was more confident in my youngest daughter’s fortitude. Girl likes her toys, is what I’m saying.
She started wiggling only to stop a few seconds in and grimace. She asked for an apple, hoping it would help get that darned tooth out.
It didn’t.
I offered to help. She hid her face.
She wiggled while I showered. I reminded her from behind the shower door that if that tooth didn’t come out before we left for town, there would be no new toy.
She muttered something I couldn’t quite hear over the sound of running water and went about her business of wiggling her tooth.
Once I was out of the shower, she asked me if her tooth was bleeding.
It wasn’t. But while I was inspecting it, I decided to do her a little favor and give it a little wiggle.
I wiggled it the way she’d been wiggling it and…nothing. I then grasped that damned Nanny McFee tooth and twisted it in the opposite direction and bam, it’s tenuous hold on her skin gave and it dropped onto her tongue.
She spat it out as fast as it fell from its former home.
I picked it up off the bathroom counter and showed it to her. She inspected the gross thing and then looked in the mirror.
“I’m bleeding,” she announced and promptly found a cup, filled it with water and rinsed her mouth.
“You’re not bleeding much,” I told her. “And better still, that tooth is out!! You get your toy!”
We high-fived and went to tell Alyssa the good news.
She was impressed that Olivia had ‘let’ me yank it out. When I confessed that I sort of tricked O into letting me ‘help’ Lyss laughed and admitted that Liv did, in fact, deserve a toy for that one.
When we got to Meijer that afternoon, Olivia decided to see if the toy she wanted was in stock. We headed to the doll section and she found it immediately. She picked up that Baby Elsa doll so fast I thought she might knock another tooth out with it.
Was it worth the $14.99 we paid for the doll to get that tooth out?
Yes. Yes it was.
The tooth fairy even left a token dollar for Olivia. And a note, telling her how brave she was for ‘letting’ her mom get that tooth out of her.
Now if only Alyssa would let me go to work on her remaining eight baby teeth. I’m telling you, I could save us hundreds of dollars if she’d just open wide.
Here's Olivia pointing to the new tooth that was already growing in before we even got the baby tooth out.
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