When Kamryn was born 5 1/2 years ago, one of my biggest concerns as a new mom was How am I ever going to get her to pee in the toilet?  I knew I would be able to take care of her, feed her, bathe her, etc. but the potty training was always that looming obstacle that I thought was going to be absolutely the hardest thing of my life.  As it turns out, potty training has been one of the easiest things to teach both of my children.

Since conquering the bodily functions portion of my parenting, my attention has been focused on losing teeth.  Kamryn has more than one loose tooth in her mouth and the very thought of that wriggling, hanging by a thread tooth makes me shutter.  She doesn’t seem to be phased by her pending tooth loss – it could be because they aren’t to that “hanging by a thread” stage yet, but it’s just a matter of time.

I hated losing teeth.  The first one was exciting, sure, but after that, I was over it.  I didn’t like biting into something and having my tooth get twisted around or the inability to prevent my tongue from prodding at it.  And then once the tooth was gone, that soft, gushy hole of bloody tissue was impossible to avoid with my tongue. I was always so happy when that hard, sharp, adult tooth made it’s way through.

I was in 2nd grade and attending the high school football bonfire (my dad was the football coach – I didn’t just hang out with teenagers when I was 7) and instead of watching the goings on of the cheerleaders, marching band and football players, I was trying to pull out one of my bottom front teeth.  It was literally just hanging there, but whatever I did to try and get it out, that last little bit of tissue would not release itself from my gums.  I twisted it until it sent a shooting pain into my mouth and then back the other way until the same pain was felt.  I think it fell out that night in my sleep and I awoke with it stuck between my bottom lip and gums. I wished that was how all of my teeth fell out.

The following year, in 3rd grade, I sat at the reading table at school and yanked out 3 teeth in about a 20 minute time span.  I remember Miss Barry eying me because I pretty much sat with my whole hand in my mouth trying to pry out the other teeth.  Once the first one fell out, I was determined to get the others out ASAP.

I hope Kamryn’s teeth fall out fast and without any assistance from me.  I can’t do it.  The very thought of grabbing on to one of those little porcelain-like nuggets makes me nauseous.  It’s fine now because I know that they aren’t to the point of actually falling out, but I know that within a month Kamryn is going to be meticulously wriggling those little teeth until they get that unnatural, Jewel-like snaggletooth position.

The Tooth Fairy has a stack of dollars at the ready for when that first tooth inevitable frees itself from my little girl’s mouth and I’m sure all the fear that I had at this being a traumatic experience will prove to be otherwise.  I should take my cues from the one actually losing the tooth instead of fabricating some bloody mouth massacre!