Nathan spent the last half of last year wishing for a wobbly tooth since several of the kids at school had lost a tooth, so it was a very excited Nathan who realised in December that his tooth was loose! However, it also caused him a bit of pain. It was a dead tooth, one that had bled too many times as a toddler who face planted the ground at playgrounds on too many occasions. There was a big red lump on his gum when the tooth first became loose, but it wasn’t bothering him too much at that time so I just decided to wait and watch what happened with it (the dentist had told me to visit if the dead tooth looked like it was becoming an abscess). The red swelling went down but his tooth did bother him quite a bit on occasions.

The loose tooth became a distraction for Toby when he was upset. If Toby was crying, Nathan would just walk up to Toby and open his mouth. Toby would wobble the tooth with his finger, and then giggle, whatever was upsetting him forgotten for a moment.

Nathan was so excited, though, about the tooth falling out. He had all sorts of plans, like looking at it under the microscope and keeping it in his special collection. So yesterday, after lunch, it was a completely devastated little boy who discovered that his tooth was gone and he didn’t have it.