4 Loth Theeth!

Elijah has lost FOUR teeth since the beginning of this school year! Every lost tooth has been cemented in my mind because of the timing.

His first tooth came out when I was in the hospital with Hannah back in September. He was home with Joel and called me to say his tooth had come out. I snapped a picture the next day when he visited us in the hospital. The new one had been growing in behind the baby one so it was already visible once the baby one came out!

His second one came out while we were driving home from Grandma & Grandpa's house at Thanksgiving. We were in the van and he ended up accidentally pulling it out and it started bleeding. It worried him just a bit but in the end he was fine.

He pulled his third one out the other day (Thursday). It was good and ready! It had been hanging there for quite a while by then. It's amazing how much their smile changes as the front two teeth loosen, putting more room in between the two, then off to the side, then off to the other side. It's interesting to watch the process of them loosening and finally coming out!

 Then his fourth tooth came out yesterday after church. He was playing on the playground and jumped over a swing and his knee bonked his mouth. Joel yelled over to me, "Amy! We have a bleeder!" ; ) He was leaned over, spitting blood out on the ground so I came over and excitedly asked, "Did your tooth come out already?!" and he motioned and tried communicating that no, his knee just hit his mouth as he jumped over the swing but when he opened his mouth...his tooth was gone! We looked but never found it. Hope some poor unsuspecting kid doesn't find it at recess this week. ;)

So now he's wearing that cute little toothless grin! I think he was feeling a little self-conscious about it last night (thus the awkward smile above...he didn't want to smile for a picture, which is rare for him!) but today he's back to smiling and joking like normal. Little toothless cutie!