W I G G E L Y

Dentist Darla jokingly using a can opener to diagnose the level of Wiggely-ness of Elijah's 1st loose baby tooth.

Elijah has had his 1st W I G G E L Y tooth for weeks now. Precious the way he pronounces wiggely - somehow he throws in an extra syllable. Payton & Darla were always pretty fearless & aggressive at removing their loose baby teeth. Elijah - not so much. Cautious, even a bit paranoid, yet ever complaining about how when he eats it hurts when it's loose. We tied the ol' slip knot dental floss for him - no go. We suggested pulling up on the tooth & twisting . . . . but nope. No thanks. So I forget about it for a while UNTIL yesterday he is showing off how well he brushed his teeth before catching the school bus & the WIGGLY tooth was more like a Flapping In The Wind kind of tooth now. As he exhaled the tooth would basically wave at me. He was still too scared to remove. I convince him "you could choke on the tooth - it is going to fall out" (when in reality the tooth is so tiny he could probably swallow with a bite of food unnoticed.)

Darla tries encouraging him to just pull it out so the tooth fairy can come tonight. No thanks. Then I recall "Elijah do you remember you pulled out one of Darla's loose teeth when you were only 3?" Of course he beamed and said "Yes!" I then suggested "Well Darla is 8 and really good at removing teeth. Lets let Darla who's fingers are smaller than mama's try real softly to take yours out." Basically he agreed that was only fair. In literally 2 seconds Darla had the tooth out. We were all so excited and Elijah, suprised, said "And it didnt hurt" Then Darla said "Its bleeding" and then Elijah changed his tune a bit. A few swishes of water down the bathroom sink & a tin foil wrapped tooth later - - - Elijah trucked off to school - excited that the Tooth Fairy would be visiting him tonight.