Every day for a year Lily told us that she “has a lot of wiggley teef”. None of her teeth were loose during that year. She’d witnessed her siblings go through their right of passage and she relished the day when she would be part of the club.

The missing tooth gang

Episode: The daily conversation

Act 1

Jon is sprawled on his bed. The clock reads 6:02AM. He’s been up all night with crying children and is hard asleep. He gets a tap on his shoulder several times. He rolls over. His eyes  are bleary and bloodshot. Lily is in her kitty pajamas and has her mouth open with her finger on a tooth pretending to wiggle it around.

Lily “Dad, is it wiggley enough yet?”

Dad “Wiggley enough for what?”

Lily “Dad, you know”

Dad “No Lily, it’s not wiggley enough yet”

Lily “WHEN? When will it be wiggley enough?”

Dad “When it actually wiggles. I don’t know. Why don’t you just be patient?”

Lily “How long is patient? I just can’t wait for loosing a toof”

Jon rolls back over. Lily taps him on the shoulder again

Lily “I have three wiggley teef”

Dad “You have zero wiggley teef. I am not going to have this discussion again. Go back to bed. It’s 6AM”

Lily “Dad, when my toof is super wiggley will you pull it out?”

Dad “Go to bed!”

End scene. Repeat daily.

Finally the day came when she actually had a wiggley toof. We were visiting from California and I tried to pull that thing out several times. It was too slippery. And not loose enough.

I was so happy when she went to Piper’s house and Piper’s mom twisted and pulled. I’d never thought about twisting and pulling at the same time. Brilliant!

Lily was so pleased that she combed her hair and put on a scarf for a photograph.

Can you tell from the look on her face that she is pleased?