Shaylen's Sixth

We had a fairly busy day on Monday. There were a few things we had to get done before packing up and flying out to Seattle for our Christmas vacation. One of those things was a six-month check-up at the dentist for the twins. They are doing really well with brushing their teeth. No cavities! The dental hygienist took one look inside Shaylen's mouth and said that the loose front tooth was ready to come out at any minute. She glanced at me and gave me a wide-eyed look that said, "And I mean ANY minute!" After checking and cleaning everything, the dentist came in. She had Shaylen open her mouth and after her first glance, looked at me and then told Shaylen that the loose tooth was ready to come out at any minute. She too shot me a knowing glance like, "Um...it's hanging on for dear life. It won't take much." She even offered to numb it and let Shaylen pull it out herself, right there, but Shaylen said kindly, "No, thank you. Mommy is going to pull it." I guess I couldn't delegate this one. I'm Shaylen's designated puller apparently.

We had prepped Shaylen that it was barely in her mouth and we were not going to have to deal with pulling a tooth out on vacation (like we had with Marshall up in Machiasport...ugh). It was going to come out TONIGHT.

So, just before bed, I led Shaylen into the bathroom and numbed the area. She shed a few tears and expressed her fear, but I calmly wrapped the floss around it (or maybe I should say around the tiny bit that was still hanging on) and tied a knot. There was no backing out now. She covered her eyes with both hands and I closed my eyes (yes, I did...I admit it) and pulled. In a split second I looked at the empty floss on my lap and thought, "Oh no! I didn't get it." But in that same split second I heard the tooth ricochet on the floor. Hooray! It was out and Shaylen squealed with joy. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. Another one was over with! Whew.