During any little-kid baseball game, chances are good that there's going to be at least one outfielder wiggling a loose tooth.  The other day, that was my kid.

None of my kids have ever been squeamish about losing their teeth.  Maybe it's because they all came late to that party and had seen plenty of their friends with wiggly teeth who got their names up on the bulletin board where the teacher kept track of all the kids who had joined the Lost Tooth Club.  They were ready.

So I was surprised when friends of mine were amazed at how nonchalant my kids have always been about wiggling--and pulling out--their loose teeth.  One neighbor said that he has to resort to all kinds of bribery and false threats to get his daughter to let go of a front tooth that's been hanging by a thread for weeks.

Another friend's little boy lost his first tooth last week.  He's not even in kindergarten yet!  And this kid was freaked out.  When we saw him early in the day he lost the tooth, he wouldn't even open his mouth to speak.  I think he was afraid the tooth would fall out if he talked--and this is a kid who usually has plenty to say.  After he finally lost the tooth (while eating shredded cheese; that thing must have really been ready to go) his mom let him call us to tell my younger son about losing his first tooth.  I answered the phone, and when he told me that his tooth had fallen out, I asked him the typical question:

"Did you get it all ready, under your pillow for the tooth fairy?"

I did not get the typical answer.  This kid wasn't leaving his tooth for any tooth fairy--even with the knowledge that tooth fairies leave money under pillows in exchange for teeth.  That was his tooth, and he was keeping it.

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