Lost tooth

Noah lost his third tooth today!! Boy, has it been a story of neverending drama. About two weeks ago, Noah came home from the dentist with the knowledge that he had a loose tooth in the middle of his mouth. How it took a dentist to tell him his tooth was loose still hasn't been clarified; however, having gained knowledge of its shaky origin, Noah could no longer leave said tooth alone. He was constantly picking at it, touching it, wiggling it, and moving it. I seem to remember a Mark Twain story about Tom Sawyer's loose tooth and remember Tom had the same fascination with his loose tooth that Noah does with his. So, yesterday, Andy decided to take a Twainian approach to the tooth and use dental floss to yank the tooth out. He wanted to tie it to the door, but I deemed it to archaic. I noticed that Andy was having trouble wrapping the floss around Noah's tooth. The tooth kept slipping out of the noose. As Noah showed his panic by backing up, Andy pulled tighter on his legs to keep Noah still. It clearly wasn't going well. Why Andy persisted I don't know. I happened to look over and saw Andy yank on the floss. Two things happened: Noah shrieked and Andy's arms, loose with the broken floss, slammed down into his sides. Now, when Noah shrieks nothing else can continue in our house. He accompanies the shriek with the flailing of body parts and dramatic falls to the ground. Unfortunately, I have to say that I am no longer the compassionate mom I once was; this certainly doesn't bring out my sympathies and one would think Noah would have learned that by now. But knowing that he didn't want the tooth pull in the first place, I tried to act compassionately and enfolded his crying, shaking body into my arms. His shrieks turned louder and his tears came bigger. It was hard not to laugh. Only promises of popsicles would calm him down.

Dinner tonight was more of the same drama. He took a bite of soft pasta and bellowed out his pain. I tried cottage cheese after this, but he spit it out saying it was bad. He was right. Amazing how a popsicle turned his frown upside down. ;). And then, while I was making lunches for tomorrow: another shriek pierced my ear. I couldn't imagine what could have hurt Noah equal to the sound he was making. Oh, how I mistook his shriek. It was the shriek of laughter and joy. His tooth was out. So, I shrieked (yeah, I never could be a dentist) and Noah laughed. Guess it would be kind of insensitive at this point to tell him about the tooth fairy!