The past month everyone discovered the fun of loose and wiggly teeth. Since classmates began to see new holes in their smiles, specifically one of their besties, everyone continues to ask when theirs will start falling out. The enthusiasm for this life event is strong! We are also receiving questions why teeth brushing remains important, because the threat “your teeth will fall out if you don’t brush them” is exactly the opposite of this situation. Similarly to when their teeth came in as babies, I’m really interested to see the order of loss, with the girls’ identical attributes showing in so many ways in their first five years.

Right before Christmas, Reagan was the first of the group to lose one. She spent a while constantly wiggling it with her finger and biting into the evening snack (apples) every night. After a bit she embraced the idea and insisted Craig pull it and get it over with; probably secretly wanting to be the first of the household and before her sisters. She was excited it was so ready that it didn’t hurt in the least and that shocked the other two. It was her front/bottom tooth on the left side, which perfectly lines up with the missing top one from toddler age. To this day she still remembers when that top one was pulled, but not when she initially cracked it in half about six months before that. Harper and Emerie were quite interested to see the gaping hole (and blood) and if there was pain or not. Harper refused to believe Reagan’s claims as her front ones began to loosen.

Why is a tooth fairy so smart?! She has a lot of wisdom teeth!

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After about a week and a half of torturing Harper about her extremely loose front tooth, the opposite bottom one from Reagan, it finally came out! This was after the entire household volunteered to do it, including both her sisters, and she would either run away or bury her face with her jaw firmly shut. We thought she might agree to Tyler’s volunteering, since he receives special permission to do things the parents can’t, and even that was a no-go. After it finally came out came the proclamation it was painless, like she couldn’t believe that was the case, and she acted like it was no big deal, after allll the back and forth about pulling it.

The following week Harper then lost her bottom left tooth, presumably so she and Reagan could continue their identical look (kidding?). This occurred after a lot of endless wiggling at nighttime, in place of the mild, absent minded nail biting she sometimes does while watching a show. The last straw was biting into a piece of Costco pizza at lunchtime at school, and Miss Tawni did a great job noticing the event and securing the tooth for fairy retrieval that night. After only a few days, one adult tooth is already popping through her gums. That sure happens fast!

Watching both sisters lose one (or more) teeth, poor Emerie was quite displeased at her lack of toothlessness. Luckily this resolved itself only one day after Harper’s pizza excitement, while watching Raya at bedtime. She reluctantly allowed Craig to easily pop it out, her front bottom tooth on the left side, and resulting in one happy girl to join the club.

A stroke of wisdom on my part was ordering customized pink, purple and teal tooth pillows to ensure a visit from the tooth fairy occurred, a few short weeks before the first “event.” Inflation has not occurred yet for the Douglas tooth fairy, and the one dollar bill found each morning was very well received. I’m pretty sure they are just as thrilled to receive a $1 bill versus a $10 bill, so for now we will hold out to the lower amount while the girls don’t have an issue with it. Thank goodness between Craig and I, a few dollars were around the house that we could use and we didn’t forget!

When switching Reagan’s tooth for the gift, I tried to pull the pillow out of her hands and woke her up, so obviously I covered by tucking her in with a hug and handing the dollar off to Craig to try after a few more minutes. Both Harper’s swaps went fine after she followed instructions to leave it propped against her pillow. I can only imagine trying to climb into that top bunk to find the pillow, without waking her up! Her first dollar was folded into a tiny square (not fancy at all) and she carried it around for two days without losing it. Craig did a fancy folding for the second tooth, which she instantly unfolded and added to her wallet, very excitedly!

Next week I’m sure another tooth will make it’s exist, and so far the elusiveness of the tooth fairy is working out. Timing wise everyone appears very close for the front bottoms, which I believe was the case when they first came in; it will be interesting to see if that continues going forward. And for now we will enjoy all the toothless smiles and see if folks can still tell who is who without the easy tell for Reagan! Big girls indeed!

❤