The Leatherman strikes again...

I am going to have to go through all of our old photos to make sure--but I think Will has pulled out Lorien, Wyatt and now Clare's first tooth with his leatherman tool. He just cannot stand to see those teeth hanging by a gum-thread. Once, Wyatt lost a tooth while playing soccer with Will in our living room...

I really cannot have nice things--like children with a mouth full of straight teeth.

Anyway, tonight it was Clare's turn to get her first tooth yanked.

She was so excited! All of her other classmates in Kindergarten have lost a couple of teeth by now and she was worried she would be the only one who didn't loose a tooth.

Kindergarten-cool-status saved.

Let me indulge myself with a little tale of this first lost tooth of Clare's. Lorien and Wyatt did not get their first tooth until they were a year old.

It was a glorious, easy year of nursing for me!

Clare, on the other hand, had her first tooth pop through her gums when she was four months old. I was annoyed. How dare this child get teeth at a developmentally appropriate age!?!

Here she is at four months, with me trying to peel her lips back to get a picture of her first tooth. She is not cooperating with me. On a completely unrelated but personally satisfying note--I am showing a lot of pasty-white leg in this picture.

And that was it...one lonely snaggletooth sticking out of her gums for another eight months. That little tooth bore the brunt of her experimenting with teething toys, regular toys, silverware, rocks and anything else she could get in her mouth with out me noticing. Her first tooth was pretty worn down by the time her jaws decided to let a few other teeth grow in to help out.

Here she is at almost one-years-old--rockin' a bad hair cut, a runny nose and illegally busting into the cereal stash...all with one bottom tooth. Some day she will rule the world.

We have been going to the same dentist since Clare was three and every time--with out fail--her dentist asks me if she broke that little tooth in 1/2 recently. I have to re-explain: "No, it was just her only tooth--for eight months--when she was a baby."

I am sure the dentist will be much more attentive once I start bringing my children in for braces. I believe my dentist high-fives all of her assistants with glee at the idea of the dental chaos happening in my children's mouths (thanks to catching soccer balls with their faces). Our family is going to be a dental-cash-cow for a long time. I don't know how the Tooth Fairy keeps up.

For family documentation...

Here are a couple of pictures of Lorien and Wyatt at the time Clare got her first tooth. Boy oh boy were they ever adorable.

Lorien, at four-and-a-half-years-old, was super into playing dressup. She really enjoyed playing "married girl" and dressing up like a bride. She also desprately wanted to meet a prince. The second picture is Lorien with "her prince"--a broken broom stick with a playdough head and googly eyes. I guess if you cannot find Mr. Perfect at four-and-a-half you might as well make him up.

Wyatt, at two-and-a-half-years-old, was super into...making this face? Seriously, I searched all my photos. Every single shot where this kid was included he had his fingers hooked in his cheek flesh. I looked for him playing with specific toys, acting like the Avatar, anything and came up with "finger-hook-face" every time.

Oh well.