A milestone: Fred's first lost tooth

I'm still somewhat in shock.  We had friends over last night and Fred came out back and told us his tooth was wiggling.  I was stunned, to be honest.  He's just shy of 4 1/2, I have had no indication of any movement of any of his teeth, and I honestly never would have guessed one would be loose.  I help him brush his teeth sometimes, and never saw or felt any wiggle.

So I let him know it was OK and sent him back inside.  Not 10 minutes later (more like 5 minutes) he's coming outside and his tooth is OUT!  He's got it in his hand and the tiny little socket is bleeding.  Even our friends who were over were surprised, so I know I wasn't the only one in disbelief.  Of course, the wine we were enjoying helped suspend the reality of the situation for a few minutes, too. 

Look Mom, no tooth!

He proudly and gently declared, "My very own tooth fell out!".

For the kid who has done just about everything later than his sister and some of his peers, he just lost a tooth one full year and change earlier than his sister did.

There is no evidence that he was hit in the face, that he bonked his mouth with something, or that there was any outside influence in dislodging the tooth.  It really just fell out on its own. 

I scrambled and luckily found a new toothbrush in the bathroom and wrangled up two quarters and wrote a note from the Tooth Fairy.  I took pictures.  We Skyped my mom this AM to show her.  I'm still shocked.  It's like that tooth represents a little bit of his youth, his innocence, his babyhood.  He still has his toddler lisp, still wears diapers to bed, and still needs help getting his shirts on in the morning.  He's still my little baby.  But now, he's hit a milestone that I just wasn't prepared to meet. 

My very own tooth fell out!

I'm really excited for him and we've made a big deal of it.  I feel like I'm just going through the motions, though, because I am not ready for him to lose teeth.  Losing teeth is something that happens to kindergarteners and first graders, not my baby who is excited about moving up to the 4's later this month.  As if the hair cut he got which aged him by at least two years wasn't enough of a blow for Mommy, now he's joining the Tooth Fairy club.

Maybe it was his way of keeping up with his sister who lost her sixth tooth this week. 

I'll lose a tooth, just you wait Big Sister!

Either way, my kids are growing up way too fast and I need to find a way to slow it down.  Until I find the solution to that, I'll have to have a few more cups of coffee and soak up the excitement and not let the kids see me fight their wonderful progress.