first tooth

So Nini finally lost her first tooth.  Her first "real" lost tooth, that is.... we had one pulled a while back.  She'd hit it in a minor fall and had it turn grey.  The dentist said to just leave it, unless it ever caused problems.  It did.  On a weekend, of course, with the dentist out of town.  He prescribed her an antibiotic and codine, but when she was still crying and I couldn't get a hold of the on-call person, I found a emergency hours dentist who'd take our insurance and got the tooth pulled.  (I also had to write a big, long letter to the insurance company to INSIST they pay for the extraction.... who were they to tell my daughter she had to wait for three more days, in pain even with codine, to get the tooth pulled by her regular dentist!... and yes, it got paid.)

But of course my daughter can't have a "normal" tooth pulling experience....  we have to have months of periodic tears that "everyone else" has lost a tooth and she hasn't (social things are INCREDIBLY important to this child).  And she did have a point... coming on the end of first grade with only one barely loose tooth.  Definitely a late bloomer, there.  Good thing she had the other tooth pulled to hide the fact.

So, when the tooth started getting loose we were very excited.  But wiggling it hurt... so she'd only do it in spurts, and it was taking a LONG time to get this tooth out.

Then came the Sunday she asked me to wiggle her tooth during Sacrament meeting (she'd done that many times the weeks previous) and while pushing on it I got a good snap and it was VERY loose.  Like ready to come out loose.  And she freaked.  She had been told by her older siblings that teeth bleed when they come out and she envisioned fountains of blood.  Nothing I said seemed to help.  Her tooth hurt and really needed to come out, but she was too scared to let me touch it.  And of course, she was too upset and in too much pain to go to Primary, so we sat in the foyer and everyone who came by immediately noticed her distress and tried to encourage her to just yank it out.  But she just wasn't ready.

By the time we were all home from church she was ready.  I gave it a little pull and twist and out it came - really smooth and easy like.  It didn't even bleed.  Just a drop.  Maybe.  It was that ready.

Her tooth was out!!

And then all was again right in the world.

And to add to the perfection, she managed it before school ended so she did finally get her name up on the tooth board at school.