Goodbye tooth, goodbye baby

A few weeks ago I had asked Kian if he had any loose teeth.  They were due for a dentist appointment and he was now five, the same age I began losing my teeth.  He said no, no loose ones yet. So, it was a big surprise when Friday night, he bit into an apple and said "hey my tooth is out!".  The bottom one, and the one next to it is super wiggly.

We have never really talked about the toothfairy, but he said the toothfairy was going to bring him some football cards.  Great, thanks kid, no warning, and it's bedtime. I gave him the excuse that he lost the tooth so late at night that the toothfairy was probably already on her rounds and she might not get the message til morning.

Then, I scrounged up 4 quarters, taped them to a note that said "Dear Kian, congratulations on your first lost tooth. I'm too tiny to carry football cards, so take these quarters and buy your own!"  He ignored or didn't notice that it was my handwriting. ;)

I kept looking at him, and I keep doing it a few days later.  It was easy to pretend he was still a little kid, a preschooler, something.  But, he's not.  He's a big boy.  Yes, he doesn't always act like a big boy.  But, he's growing up.  He's getting taller, not a trace of body fat anywhere, his face is not rounded and soft like when he was a toddler, it's more angular and, well, big kid like. Sigh.  I'm not ready for this big boy, with missing teeth, questions about how cranes work, what God looks like, and why white people took land away from American Indians.  Goodbye tooth, goodbye baby.

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