A Litle Tooth(#3)

April 18, 2012

A Little Tooth

by Thomas Lux

Your baby grows a tooth, then two
and four, and five, then she wants some  meat
directly from the bone. It’s all

over; she’ll learn some words, she’ll fall
in love with cretins, dolts, a sweet
talker on his way to jail. And you,

your wife, get old, flyblown, and rue
nothing. You did, you loved, your feet
are sore. It’s dusk. Your daughter’s tall.

**Hi Lovely Readers, as I am slowly healing and finding some respite from bloody garments, Miss M. has taken over the role of Class-A bleeder at our house. That little minx has yanked out three teeth in ten days. She’s kind of scarily motivated, like Linda Hamilton in Terminatior 2.  And guess what?  There’s a wiggly one on the bottom that I’m giving a week, tops, until it comes tumbling out.

Our Tooth Fairy needs public assistance.

Ah, those kids. They kill you, don’t they?  You pray for them to grow up and then they do, and then you’re beside yourself with grief.

So say hello to the Urchin, Readers. She’ll be a bit hard to look at for a while, but luckily, we love her anyways.

***One of my favorite people, The Absence of Alternatives, suggested that we continue to celebrate poetry month, so if you are so inclined, send me your favorite poem and we’ll revel in the wisdom and wonder of words.

Much Love,

Dana

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

Abby April 18, 2012 at 6:21 am

I’m beginning to think she’s viewing the removal of her teeth as a lucrative business venture, seeing as the Tooth Fairy will pay here a visit–and a pretty penny. But that picture? Priceless.

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Abby April 18, 2012 at 6:21 am

“Her” not “here.” Good lord.

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Louise April 18, 2012 at 6:27 am

Aw, that gap-toothed smile! Love it! My smallest child just got her final baby tooth in a couple months ago; we’ve got a ways to go before they start losing the teeth. Thank goodness.

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Sherri April 18, 2012 at 6:28 am

Priceless photo – exactly what I thought too. She’s so cute.

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Jenna April 18, 2012 at 10:09 am

The poem you shared gave me the chills, all the way down my body. I haven’t even given birth yet and I’m already mourning this process of seeing my babies grow tall, even while hoping and praying for that exact thing.

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Erica@PLRH April 18, 2012 at 10:23 am

What a beautiful smile!

One year the Tooth Fairy skipped over our house two nights in a row. Oh the tears!

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Kristen @ Motherese April 18, 2012 at 10:47 am

Love the pic, love the poem, love you.

(If your fairy is involved in the tooth black market, please let her know we could use some over here. Baby Girl is 14 months old and only has two teeth. At this rate, she won’t have a full set until she’s 12.)

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Justine April 18, 2012 at 11:20 pm

I don’t know, Kristen, I’m going to have to say lucky you. We’re at 10.5 months and numbers 5 and 6 are coming in. That’s how many hours of sleep I wish I could get, thanks to growing pains.

Kitch, with Little Miss I was all about oooh, let’s see your next milestone, I can’t wait! With this baby, I’m all about, “slow the heck down! You don’t need to be crawling yet!” I can’t even imagine my state if I see my girls losing their teeth.

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Phoo-d April 18, 2012 at 11:34 am

She is getting so big! And looking more like Miss D everyday. What a beauty!

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idiosyncratic eye April 18, 2012 at 4:14 pm

I love the nonsense poems of Lear and the Old Possum’s Book of Cats, nothing intellectual about my tastes! But my favourite ‘proper’ poem? The Night Mail by Auden, the rhythm of the train captivated me as a child and I love it still.

As for tearing teeth out yourself, she’s either very brave or the minx you called her! Ouch.

:)

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SuziCate April 18, 2012 at 4:15 pm

She is adorable with her snaggly toothed smile!

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Liz April 18, 2012 at 5:32 pm

Oh! So it’s normal for kids to yank out their own teeth? Here I was thinking they all waited til they got suuuuuper wiggly and fell out. Ben decided to take one that was slightly loose, yank it down so it became horizontal, and then tear it out. I was disturbed. He was proud.

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Kate April 18, 2012 at 7:33 pm

What a poem, and what a smile. My first killed me losing a tooth within days of her fifth birthday. I was in shock for weeks. Enough milestones, please.

I’m glad you’re healing. So glad.

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Tinne from Tantrums and Tomatoes April 19, 2012 at 4:47 am

Ah kids and their teeth. The best way I ever lost a tooth was when one of them got stuck in a sticky toffee. Very painless and it got me a second toffee.

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Heather April 19, 2012 at 7:07 pm

Love that toothless grin!

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Biz April 20, 2012 at 8:54 am

Your daughters smiling face just made my day! :D Hugs!

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Katybeth April 20, 2012 at 5:22 pm

There once was a lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They came back from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger ~ Lear or Monkhouse or the famous Anon

That toothless grin made me smile :-D

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CK April 21, 2012 at 9:03 am

M and ONE are gonna be toothless twins next month!

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Tiffany April 23, 2012 at 1:59 pm

I could just eat her up with a spoon. Maybe we ought to do some matchmaking with your Colorado Cutie and my Ohio Lovebug?

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Rudri Bhatt Patel @ Being Rudri April 24, 2012 at 12:56 pm

I love so much about this post. My kid has dropped six teeth in the last few months. Every time it happened, I winced. I know I am here late, but I hope you have recovered and are ready to deliver some classic Kitch snark. xoxo

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