Competitive Tooth Losing

Tonight was absolutely insane. We are leaving tomorrow for my Mom's house for two weeks and have so much packing to do! Damien's parents came down to help us out and also wanted us to go out for our anniversary (although a few weeks early). Earlier in the day- I took Claire into the doctor because she has had this nagging hacking cough for almost a month! Luckily, the doctor said that it isn't really a cold anymore but instead, inflammation in her lungs. He prescribed for her an anti-inflammatory medication which would calm her lung irritation down. They warned me to give it to her a few hours before bedtime as it can cause a child to be super hyperactive. Well, I forgot. Damien and I went out for dinner and when we got home, I remembered she needed her meds and gave them to her. The kids were getting ready for bed when Michael mentioned to Damien that his front tooth was really loose and bothering him. Damien told him he really needed to wiggle it and get it out to make room for the big tooth behind it. This piqued Claire's interest and she came over to see how wiggly Michael's tooth was. She then showed us that her front tooth was loose. Yes, it was loose but no where close to being ready to come out. Claire started running around the house like a crazy lady and we knew the medicine had hit her hard! I told them to go to bed because we had a big day of flying ahead of us. We said prayers with them, turned the lights out, and enjoyed the peace and quiet . . . for a while. About fifteen minutes later, Claire called us into her room and said "Feel my tooth now!" I turned on the light and noticed that she had a little blood on her nose and face. Still totally hyper, she sat up and I wiggled her tooth that was now literally hanging on by a few threads. I couldn't believe it! Well, ya I could. Between the hyperactive medication and Claire's competitiveness- she was dangerous!

We brought her into the kitchen to take a better look and Michael soon came down from his bunk bed after hearing all of the commotion to see what was going on. When Damien asked Claire if she wanted him to pull her tooth out, she said yes. A minute later, she was crying saying she didn't want it pulled out because she was too scared. We explained that she had worked her tooth to the point where if we didn't pull it out- she might lose it in her sleep and swallow it! She agreed and 'Daddy the Tooth Puller' came to her rescue and pulled out her front left tooth. Phew. That was over. But then, Michael toyed with the idea of having Damien pull his tooth out, too! This was nuts! Now it was ten at night, I wasn't totally packed, and here we are debating losing teeth in the kitchen! Michael would get up the courage to have it pulled, and then decided not to do it. Then decide to do it, then decide not to do it. Finally, I said he needed to make a choice because we all needed to go to bed! Michael decided to go ahead with the extraction and Damien got into position. Michael's baby teeth are really small so it was hard for Damien to get a good grip on it. The first pull slipped a bit but made it so much more accessible to be pulled. With one big tug, Michael's tooth was out and there were happy tears from both Michael and Claire. I couldn't believe that in one night- they both lost a front tooth! Chalk it up to big growth spurts and a little hyper induced craziness. We created a busy night for the tooth fairy!

The whole time this was going on, Matthew looked confused at his older siblings (see top picture). I don't even think he knew that you could lose teeth. He was really curious and loved looking at their little white teeth. I had to explain to him that he couldn't try and get his teeth out until he was a big boy like Michael. Hopefully he won't pull a Claire and try and lose teeth prematurely! Man, I wonder what all of this will be like for Emily when she grows up! It sounds weird, but this is the craziness I love with having four kids. Sure, there is a lot of commotion around here sometimes, but it sure is a lot of fun, too!