The Tooth

The girl has cemented teeth. 

We think her chocolate milk obsession has NOT helped in the "losing teeth" department. 

So much calcium in her bones and teeth that they aren't willing to part with one another. 

And it brings the girl to tears. 

Big, fat, rolling down her cheeks tears. 

Gigi has only lost two teeth and those fell from the bottom of her gumline last year. 

She's had a few other teeth in the "kinda loose" arena, but they seem to suck themselves back into her gums. 

She wiggles them and has her fingers in her mouth so often I think she's now become immune to all of the nasty germs she's depositing in there on her grubby 7 year old fingers. 

She's been eating apples for the last few days. 

Trying desperately to get that somewhat loose top incisor tooth out of her head. 

My children were very slow to get teeth as babies.

So slow that we were wondering if they were born without teeth in their little heads at all. 

All we could picture were gummy 10 year olds and visits to the denture doctor in their futures. 

Our dentist and pediatrician have both told us that kids who are slow to get teeth are also slow to lose those teeth. 

Gigi has been hoping for missing teeth since preschool. 

She used to come home and tell me about her 3 and 4 year old pals who had already lost teeth. 

She didn't seem to care when her father and I told her 3 and 4 year olds shouldn't be loosing teeth yet. 

These kids didn't have a proper diet, too much sugar and too little calcium. 

Time and patience would have to be our daughters' best friends. 

My kids hate those "friends."

And I think time and patience are now Gigi's #1 enemies. 

Yesterday, Gigi got off of the bus and came to find me emerging from the barn in the back yard. 

She had a napkin over her mouth and was walking towards me. 

I thought to myself, "oh, please tell me you have that napkin over your mouth because your tooth has fallen out and you're containing the blood that's oozing out, please, please, please, please." 

We connected on the path to the barn and she took the napkin from her mouth and started bawling. 

"EVERYONE at school is loosing their teeth and my tooth is NEVER EVER going to come out!!"

"Did someone lose a tooth today in class?" I asked. 

"YES! Cami did!" she howled. 

Oh crap. 

Crap, crap, crap. 

Cami is one of her besties. 

How DARE she do this to Gigi. 

Ugh. 

I spent the next few minutes reassuring her that her tooth would fall out soon. 

It would, it just needed more time. 

She couldn't hear me over her despair. 

She went inside and ate an apple. 

At dinner last night her sister did the unthinkable. 

She pulled out her own tooth, a premolar, that had been loose for a few weeks. 

And the howling and bawling and giant tears flowed from her sister right at the dinner table. 

And the dinner table happened to be out in public. 

Where we were eating bacon cheeseburgers and fries and now we had blood and a tooth in the palm of Zoe's hand. 

Great timing Zoe. 

I need time and patience to get through this, too. 

And I need to restock the apple supply in the kitchen.