This morning, as we were rushing around trying to get out the door to Church, Ali asked, “So. When will my teeth fall out?”
Apparently, she’s been hanging around some older men.
“Your teeth will fall out when you get to be about six years old – in three more years.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because they need to come out to make room for your big teeth to grow in.”
And, since I’m quite late to the party as to deciding which imaginary beings I’m going to support or not, I said rather vaguely, “And you know what else? When your tooth falls out, you can put it under your pillow, and in the morning, your tooth will be gone, but there will be MONEY under your pillow!”
“Money?!?!?!”
“Yes! Money!”
“Why?”
“Well, Um…that’s just what happens!!”
“That’s CRAAAZY!!!!”
“I know, isn’t it?”
”So when will I be six again?”
So, this afternoon, I found some pictures of me losing my first teeth to help her get excited about the process…
You see, your mother, whom when you’re older you will question her youthful hair choices, will get a string and tie it to your tooth while your brother watches on in sadistic glee and your cousin, whom when you’re older you will question his shorts length choices, watches on with complete disgust…
And then…
Um, well….and then…..
OH.
On second thought, Maybe I should just show her what the outcome looks like.
After all, nobody needs to have nightmares about being six years old.
I lost my first tooth when I was seven….
Love the bloody, gaping wound shots. Nice!
Gross! Those are some crazy pictures! At least you won't have to worry about Ali wanting to grow up too fast if you show her those! I have never known anyone who actually did the string-tooth thing.
I HATED losing teeth when I was little and would keep them in there until they came out on their own, and usually by then there wasn't much blood. Not looking forward to those years w/my girls. Yuck.
Ahh, memories. My parents were anti-all-fantasy when I was a child, so no tooth fairy for me. However, as a voracious reader, I had a much better arrangement: I was permitted to select a BRAND NEW BOOK for each tooth I lost, and my parents inscribed each book with #1 tooth, #2, etc. Looking back, I made out as compared to my friends; they only received a measly dollar or five from that fairy. I had 18 books before I lost interest. :-) I also learned to pull my own teeth so as to avoid the string. ;-)
Haha this is great.
I don't have such horrible memories of losing my teeth. My pawpaw would always pull mine out, and I think his gift was in tooth pulling. I NEVER felt it.
Please do not show this post to Ali, it might effect her for the rest of her life. Those of you are so disturbing to me. I do not remember losing my teeth but I know it was not traumatic like yours. EWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Rachel, those are the saddest pictures I have ever seen. I hope you at least got some ice cream when it was all over!
OMG, too funny. I can't believe you have pictures of it!
When it was time to lose my first tooth one of my sisters was so excited that she wanted to help. So my mom let her tie the string around my tooth and the other end aroun the doorknob. I remember her laughing and slamming the door shut, but I just kept running after the door. My mom finally put an end to the whole thing by saying to just let the tooth fall out on it's own, went to untie the string and slammed the door shut herself. The ttoh came out, I cried, I got Jello and was fine.
those pics are hilarious. i was the type who just let the tooth hang on by a thread until it could be pulled out without too much pain. hated my teeth being pulled. of course i have a zero tolerance for pain so that might explain it. :)
We just had the whole "when will my teeth fall out" conversation with Jackson. I didn't even mention the tooth fairy because I don't want Jackson to pester me about it for the next 3 years!
I am waiting right now for my son's two front teeth to come out. he is six also. they are just hanging in – to be honest I don't know how they are even in there. He can bend them back with his tongue. We are just hanging in there and waiting.
There are some down sides of being five when your dad is 27 and his brother is 21. One of the big ones in my memory is the string tied to my tooth and the front door knob. Oh, the torture. But I do wish they'd taken pictures!
Those pictures are pretty scary, I can't believe you parents thought that was a "kodak" moment :)
I can't believe your parents took pictures of your bloody face! Man, they are hardcore.
But that last one, of you with the toothless grin…very cute.
I love Lora's idea of getting a book for each tooth, and the parents inscribing them. That's the kind of thing I would love to have, now. My Nathan is about the same age as your Ali, so we've got some time to figure out what we're going to do. But the book idea is growing on me.
oh my gosh,,,, this just about killed me with humor!
I remember trying the string in the door method… it didn't work and secretly I was so happy about it because I was terrified that it would hurt.