This is Eleanor with her best grimace to show off her new gap-toothed grin.

Our 6 month post-placement visit with our social worker (coming up in September), may include descriptions of how this cruel mother yanked the teeth out of poor Eleanor's head. We'll see how well that goes over. Of course, the tooth was REALLY loose, had been really loose for a really long time, and I could see the permanent tooth coming in BEHIND the loose baby tooth, and I could envision Eleanor's reaction to THAT kind of dentist visit (and my reaction to a big dentist bill for pulling a tooth that was already really loose - man, I'm cheap)... so I took matters into my own hands, so to speak. Two good pulls with just my fingers, and it was out. And Eleanor let me do it, she was a trooper, although she wailed when she could taste a little blood for a few seconds afterwards. Sarah assisted by showing Eleanor how the tooth fairy worked, and showing her a few teeth she had lost herself (I um, "bought back" Sarah's teeth in their little decorated envelopes from the tooth fairy, for demonstration purposes).

Genevieve watched the proceedings, and her eyes got big as Eleanor's tooth popped out. Gennie broke down into tears and screamed, "Mommy! I don't WANT to be 6 or 7 and have my TEETH come OUT!!! Waaaaah!" Eleanor was thrilled with the opportunity to decorate a plastic baggie for the tooth fairy, so she happily busied herself with the stickers, and I sat with Genevieve and rocked her, telling her she wouldn't have to worry about teeth coming out for a good, long time.
"But, my next birthday, I'll become into 5! Then 6!"
"Yes, sweetheart, but loose teeth won't hurt a lot. It'll be okay."
"But Eleanor had BLOOD!"
"Only a little, and look, she's okay now."
"But she cried that it was owie."
"A little bit. But her tooth was a little stubborn. I bet yours won't be owie at all. And we have to have a few more Christmases before your teeth get loose."
"Oh, Mommy, I don't WANT to be 6 or 7!!"

I tried to tell her that it would be a long time before then, but felt like I was lying. It's felt like no time at all for her to reach 4 years of age, and all of a sudden she'll be in kindergarten next year. So I soothed my snuggly baby girl, knowing that it won't be long before she is losing teeth, and that not long after that I'll be losing my mind with three teenaged girls. :)

Dave and I snuck into Eleanor's room to attempt to find the baggie and slip a buck under her pillow, but she had buried it somewhere in her covers where I couldn't find it. She finally woke up as I was rummaging around, and Dave made some excuse about saying goodnight to Gennie, and that I was looking for something I dropped (on the top bunk... sure). I told her this morning that the tooth fairy called me and said she couldn't find her tooth, so that tonight we'd have to make sure it was right under her pillow, maybe with an edge sticking out to make it easy. The tooth fairy doesn't have the best eyesight, after all. So Eleanor made a really big sign that said TO THE TOOTH FAIRY, which she plans to employ tonight. Stupid tooth fairy.

Wish the tooth fairy would bring me a buck. We've been noticing a weird plasticky-burny smell this weekend. Turns out we need a new electrical panel in the garage, since we had a loose main line and it was melting everything in there and starting to melt the insulation in the wall surrounding. Glad the house didn't burn down. That would have been worse news, don't you think? (We will also be paying a plumber and a car mechanic for various jobs this week - yippee skippee).