Teeth

We have teeth coming out our ears these days. Well, our mouths really. And not my mouth, or Ben's, our kids'! Izzy lost one of her top front teeth this week. Her last loose tooth she allowed me to pull out but she didn't get to a point this time when she thought it was wiggly enough yet. Obviously when it came out as she ate her cereal she realized it was indeed time to come out! It was kind of gross a few days ago when she asked me if there were nuts in our bread. She said she kept crunching! I told her no and she said, "Oh, it must have just been my tooth!" Yikes. If your tooth folds into your mouth and you can bite it, it's time to come out! It also looked so awkward when she would talk because it would totally get in the way. Her lip stuck out just a little and she would pause sometimes in the middle of a sentence to adjust her protruding tooth! Everyone offered to yank it out and she would say, "Nope, it's not quite ready!" We've got one more front tooth left and it is just a little wiggly. Hopefully it won't hang on as long as it's little buddy did.

When you were a kid did you brush your teeth well? I'll be blunt and say that I remember feeling that slimy, clean feeling only after getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist! I think it is hard to train your children how to brush their teeth well! Even if you've got the habit down of specific times when they brush their teeth, there is no guarantee that when they open their mouths for a teeth check that they will look much different than when they went in? "What have you been doing in there this whole time?!" I ask daily, it seems. Then I take my turn at removing the grime that has built up in that single day. How can I explain how to focus on a certain region before moving to the next? Aiden's teeth brushing is like a tornado. The brush spins and scrubs and only touches down, like, every other tooth. His hand moves furiously but it darts from one side to the other in a matter of seconds leaving small clean patches in it's path. It's like a tooth brush with ADHD. Whatever the heck went on in that mouth accomplished extremely little! We also take turns with Izzy still but thankfully Emma manages to come out with squeaky clean teeth. It took 9 years or so, but we have accomplished something! Thank you, Jesus! I hope we keep all our teeth! (At least the ones we're suppose to!)