On, Saturday, May 23, 2009, Johnathan had a loose tooth for a month. He was eagerly waiting for the tooth to come out so he could have his first visit from the tooth fairy. He wanted the tooth to come out but was scared for the blood. Not as much for pain, just blood. Each day when I’d brush his teeth, that tooth would be woobly but still wasn’t 100% ready to come out. I figured between putting his mouth guard in during flag football would cause it to come out more quickly. Well today that day came.
We were practicing catching at flag football practice and the subject of his loose tooth came up. I asked him if he wanted me to pull it out. He said, “yes”, then “no”, then “yes”, then “no”. He wanted it to come out, but was still afraid. I asked him team mates if any have lost teeth yet. One kid said, “I have.” He smiled and in the front you could clearly see at least 4 teeth missing. He looked like a jack-o-lantern. I asked him if it hurt when they came out and he said, “no.” I asked the team to vote if we should pull the tooth out. Unanimously they all voted yes. So he said ok. We went off to the side, I rinsed out his mouth, washed my hands and in I go. The tooth was so ready to come out. It was almost pointing 90 degrees out from where it should have been. The mouth guard was pushing it away. So I wiggle it back and forth three or four times and out it came. He barely felt it. It bled a little but he was ok. I poured some water in his mouth a few times and he spit it out. Soon enough the blood stopped and we were back practicing. That night the tooth fairy came and he got $5! When I was a kid, the tooth fairy left me 25 cents. What a difference.