Pieces of Skull

A month or two ago, we noticed something going on in Joshua's mouth. He had two permanent teeth growing directly behind two of his baby teeth, which were loose. Apparently, there is some shark blood in the family somewhere.

Luckily, Joshua was due for a visit to his dentist.

I love Josh's dentist. He is like a skinny, young Santa Claus. And he laughs at everything. He must really love his job...or he is sampling some of his products...

The dentist said everything was fine, and in fact, Joshua had some over-active 6-year molars trying to come up under his baby molars, as well. He told us that if Josh's loose teeth didn't come out in 6 weeks, that they would need to be extracted.

I remember being a kid, and having loose teeth. It is semi-traumatic. It didn't help that Mom tied my tooth to the doorknob in her bathroom and unsuccessfully tried to remove it.

I don't know what possesses parents to pull their children's teeth out. Latent hostility, perhaps, for all the trouble their children give them? Sort of a payback kind of thing?

Well, Josh's teeth hadn't really changed much until a few days ago when he bit into a banana and said "OUCH!" You know something bad is going to happen if a banana causes you grief. Joshua turned to me and looked out with his big, blue eyes, and started wiggling his very, very loose tooth.
"Josh!" I exclaimed. "You are going to lose your tooth! Yay!"
His wounded look turned into tear-filled horror.

"I d-d-d-on't want to lose my teeeethhhhh!"

"No! It's great! You can show Daddy, and he will be so excited! Yay! Your baby teeth need to come out so your big people teeth can grow in!"

Luckily, Joshua is still impressionable, and he was soon jumping around the room getting really excited about loosing his tooth.

I don't know what possessed me, but I continued with,

"You should pull it out, Josh!"

He then spent the next two hours trying to get it out. Unsuccessfully. And there was a lot of blood. At this point, Joshua came to me and requested that I dispatch the tooth for him. *shudder*

"Um, why don't you wait 'till Daddy gets home, and he can do it?"

He considered...

"Noooo, I will do it."

Ten minutes later he wanted me to do it.

My gag reflex was working overtime, and it didn't help that Joshua was standing right in front of me with his bloody, loose tooth dangling by a nerve.

Fortunately, Jeremy came home, and I gave it over to him. No dice. Josh wouldn't let Jeremy touch him.

We went to Wally World, and on the way, we told Josh that if he let Daddy pull his tooth out, he could get a treat. That only resulted in Joshua screaming his protestations the whole way there, and at the climax, when Jeremy tried to remove the tooth, Joshua had worked himself into hysterics that lasted the entire walk into the store. We finally convinced him that nobody was doing anything to him, and that he really ought to stop.

We got some candy for Josh, in anticipation of him relenting. I don't know why Jeremy and I were convinced he would. I mean, if someone came at you insisting on yanking your teeth out, you would probably scream too.

When we got home I told Josh he could hold the M&Ms while Daddy pulled his tooth out. Joshua gladly took the candy, but refused to open his mouth. I held him on my lap on the kitchen floor and Jeremy tried to take a non-threatening position in front of Joshua with a wad of tissues, insisting the whole time that it wouldn't hurt...much.

We begged, cajoled, threatened, and finally gave up. Joshua was hyperventilating. He twisted that poor, innocent bag of M&Ms so hard that I swear I could hear it crying.

My last attempt to get it out was right before bed, after Joshua had accepted my apology for being crabby. I tried to brush his teeth really hard. Yeah, that didn't work. I think Joshua willed that tooth to stay in forever.

So, Jeremy and I decided that eventually the tooth would come out, in spite of us, so we shouldn't worry about it.

The next day, Joshua asked me to pull it out.
"Really? You really want me to pull it out?" I had steeled myself to do it, if that is how he wanted it.
He backed away shyly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Well, this morning, I handed my boy a banana on our way out to the doctor's office. As we walked to the car, Joshua bounced around as usual, but then stopped.

I could hear him spitting.

"There is a rock in my mouth, yuck!"
Uh, oh...

I examined Joshua's mouth, and sure enough, there was a little hole in his mouth.

"Uh, Josh? That wasn't a rock. Your tooth came out!"
He then showed me where he spat it out, and I carefully threw the piece of skull into the front seat cup holder. Bleh.

I have never seen anybody so excited about a piece of their head falling out. It was a good lesson, though. I couldn't have imagined a better way for Josh to loose his tooth, and I didn't have to do anything! I just hope he doesn't end up swallowing more "rocks" in the next couple weeks.