(More than) Fourinarow.net

You always hear that subsequent children get screwed. The first kid gets a baby book and it’s all filled out. And then there are the thousands pictures of him or her. (At one time I had a wall of 10 framed pics just of Jack.) The second kid gets a baby book that is partially filled out. And way fewer pictures. The third and beyond (for those crazy-big families) basically get… nothing.

Being aware of this phenomenon, I do try to keep things even. With very little luck, of course. None of my kids ever had a baby book. But, I did get calendars for ALL of them. With stickers to mark their milestones. Not that I kept up with them… But, I tried, right? Sort of?

Today, though, I think I reached an all-new low for us parents-of-many. When Jack lost his first tooth, it was a big hoorah. Lots of wiggling of the loose tooth in the weeks leading up to the Big Event. Then we made a production of getting it out. The Tooth Fairy came. On time. With something extra special.

I don’t really remember all the details for Maria, other than her tooth-losing came right on the heels of her brother. I don’t recall any complaints, so I must not have messed up too badly with her.

Poor Lukie, though. The Third Child.

The dentist discovered two loose teeth during Saturday’s check-up and Luke’s been wiggling faithfully ever since.

Today, while on the phone to my sister, he came to me, pointed to the tooth, and whispered that he wanted me to pull it out. Still on the phone, while he patiently stood still, I tied some dental floss to it and gave it a yank. Nothing. Continuing the conversation with my sister (who had no idea this was even going on) I retied the floss and yanked again. Harder. I got a funny look from Luke and then the tooth went flying across the kitchen.

While I kept chatting, Luke went to soak up the blood and I crawled around the kitchen looking for the tooth. He soon joined me. Not finding it, we both started to panic a little and I finally explained to my sis that I needed to go.  I got out the broom and the flashlight and after lots of discussion about how to get the Tooth Fairy to come without a tooth, we found it.

Thank goodness.

Which reminds me… I need to send Dan up to play Fairy.