How to Make Your Mama Cry

When Brody was born, it seemed like my girls grew up instantly. Addie, who was my baby, suddenly got bigger. MUCH bigger. In comparison to tiny Brody, she is now a giant. Emma just seemed to have matured and really gotten sweet over night.

And then a week and a half ago, Emma showed me that she had a loose tooth.

Make that TWO loose teeth.

I couldn't believe it! She's not even five yet. I called the dentist to make sure it's okay to be losing teeth this early, and thankfully he said yes. But no, it's NOT okay. It means she's growing up and I can't do a thing to stop it!



So I took these pictures of Emma the other day, even though I was sure we'd have a few more weeks or months left with her baby teeth.



But we were wrong!



Yesterday after Bible Study, Emma leaned over to pick up a balloon and exclaimed, "My tooth!" I said, "What do you mean 'your tooth?'" She said, "It's on the floor!" She picked it up and looked at me, and sure enough, there was a new little gap in her mouth and a tooth in her hand. I don't know how, but she said it just fell out. It seems like it must have just literally, fallen out. It was there one second, and gone the next.



She was a little freaked out by the small amount of blood pooling in her new hole, and got a little teary. Addie said she was afraid too and kept saying, "Poor Emma!" But even though I was slightly devastated myself, I showed my excitement and reassured Emma that it's a great thing!



Since we hadn't left the church yet, I had Gary meet us at the door on our way out and when he saw our "surprise", I swear he turned ashen and held back tears.

So last night, we made a special envelope to keep the tooth in (I had wanted to make a cute little toothfairy pouch with Emma... someday... you know, when she was old enough to lose a tooth! But the envelope worked for now), and Emma willingly went to sleep so the toothfairy could come. She was VERY excited as she told me that the toothfairy would leave her a PENNY! Woo-hoo!







When I was little, I got a shiny fifty-cent piece for each tooth. They were VERY special. I'm wishing I'd saved them all to give to my own kids, but what kid thinks ahead like that? I meant to go the bank and forgot. So lucky little Emma got a sparkly Sacagawea dollar instead. Considering she was excited about a penny, I think maybe the toothfairy is going to cut back to a quarter for all teeth after the first one!




Once in awhile while Brody's sleeping, he'll smile a half-smile that just melts my heart and it makes me think back to the girls' toothless grins that I loved so much when they were babies. I didn't realize I'd be getting a glimpse of Emma's again so soon. *sigh*

One last thing... last night when we were eating dinner, we were talking about how sometimes people cry when they're happy (I cried when Brody was born, so now they bring it up occasionally). Emma said, "Yeah, that's why I was crying this morning when I lost my tooth. I was just so happy!" Mmmm-hmmm... sure!