All I Want For Christmas

My younger son was extremely accident prone when he was little.  He never met a pole, tree, or piece of furniture that he didn't collide with, and he had a permanent bruise on his forehead for years. So when I heard crying coming from the play room, and my older son calling to me that T had hurt himself again, I only had a small heart attack.

This time he had tripped and smashed into the coffee table - mouth first.  Once I got him to calm down, I realized that his two front teeth were a little loose.  We headed for the dentist, where she gave us the news that they would have to be "wiggled" out (pediatric dentist speak for pulled) since they were too loose to tighten back up.

His cute little teeth before they came out.

T was almost five at the time, so obviously his front teeth were going to come out on their own eventually.  However, the dentist warned us that it might be a year or so until the permanent teeth grew in since they hadn't started moving down in his jaw yet.  The extraction went well and T slept through the whole thing.

A few months later, the Christmas season arrived, and we started hearing THE SONG. Friends, family, and even strangers at the store couldn't help singing "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" whenever they saw his gap toothed grin.  At first T didn't mind, but after the one-thousandth rendition, he was getting a little tired of it.  Ditto his parents.

The day arrived for the Christmas program and party at his preschool.  All of the kids lined up to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.  When T's turn came, he climbed up on Santa's lap and looked up to tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  Santa took one glance at him, nudged Mrs. Claus, and the two of them loudly broke out into THE SONG.

Et tu, Santa?

Needless to say, T wasn't thrilled.  He threw his hands over his eyes and said "not again!" Poor kid.  He eventually forgave Santa, especially when he apologized and gave him a candy cane.

Unfortunately for T, this wouldn't be the only Christmas without front teeth.  There was actually a second, and a third.  It took three full years for those darn teeth to grown back in. Three years of hearing THE SONG, and three years of being a pretty good sport.

But even now, when it comes on the radio, T looks at me and says "not again!"