No Pain No Gain

As you might recall, Jaxon lost his first tooth earlier this Summer. It was a proud and long anticipated moment for him. His bottom front teeth had been loose for ages, and the two new replacements were already protruding through Jaxon's lower gum. We all knew it was only a matter of time before those two teeth would fall out. Well, the second tooth was proving to be particularly stubborn and continued to hang around for weeks without showing any signs that it was becoming any looser.

Anh and I had to giggle as Jaxon's grin began to resemble a shark's mouth with it's rows of teeth. That baby tooth was being pushed forward by the two replacement teeth and was growing more and prominent with each day. Yesterday, I casually suggested to Jaxon that we might try to "help" his tooth fall out by tugging on it. As expected, Jaxon was extremely resistant to this brilliant idea of mine. At first, he refused to even let me examine his tooth, but once he finally agreed, I realized the tooth was truly loose and ready to come out. I urged Jaxon to let Daddy take a look when he got home from the office, and again, Jax seemed extremely nervous with my suggestion.

However, Jaxon was cooperative when it came time for his dad's dental examination. Jax was nervous, but agreed to let Anh give the tooth a tug to see if it was ready to come out. I cautioned Anh not to scare Jax by pulling too hard and reassured Jaxon that Daddy would stop if there was any pain. The next thing I know, Anh is telling Jax to close his eyes and then proceeds to YANK that tooth right out of Jaxon's gum! Jaxon's eyes shot open and the tears were instantly flowing. I was not happy at that particular moment with Anh, to say the least. This was not the scenario I had proposed or intended!

Anh attempted to justify the extraction with every argument he could come up with as Jax and I glared at him with resentment. I'd say Anh's days of "playing dentist" are over. Nobody in this house will let him near their teeth again. Trust me! Luckily, Jax was easily consoled with talk of a repeat visit from the Tooth Fairy. She was EXTREMELY generous during her first visit and something told me that the Tooth Fairy would be equally generous this time around given that she'd obviously want to offset the TRAUMATIC experience with a positive reward. Cold, hard cash makes everything better!

Sure enough, the Tooth Fairy came through. Jaxon woke up bright and early to celebrate his fortune and the previous day's drama seemed to be erased from his memory. Who says money can't buy you happiness?