The Lost Tooth

My super sweet, super funny almost 6 year old son EZRA just lost his very first tooth. He was so excited and had me check it every morning when he woke up. "Today Mommy?" He would ask. I put my finger on his tiny tooth and wiggled it back and forth. "Not yet" - I'd tell him. Then he'd run off to play and tell a sister or brother about his tooth - for the hundredth time!

I'm not sure why he was so excited. It might have been the tooth fairy talk or maybe it just made him feel like a big kid. Either way, this was Ezra's favorite topic of conversation!

The other morning started out just like the past few, where I had a tiny tooth to check. It was getting there, but still not quite ready to come out. We were leaving for a day of Christmas shopping.
- Now let me stop right here and say this little tooth was the last thing on my mind during the day. Christmas shopping was stressful enough for me this year and then adding six of my children along with me for the day made for a pretty hectic time. -
Hours into our shopping trip and you can guess I had some very hungry children. If it had just been me I would have pushed on and ignored the hunger pains to get my shopping done! My kids would not have that, so we pulled into a Sheetz where you can buy two hot dogs for one dollar (bargain shopping even at lunch time). I had my oldest daughter run in and grab a hot dog for each child. They ate while I drove to our next destination.
The car was quiet for a few sweet moments and then my daughter screamed at Ezra -
YOUR TOOTH!!!
I know for sure his little tooth was there before he started eating his hot dog, but as he took his last bite and turned to smile at his sister, the tooth was gone!!!
At first excitement set in and Ezra kept saying how it didn't hurt at all!!!! Then the panic - Where is the tooth?!?!?!
I pulled over and we searched. We checked his coat, his shirt, his car seat - no tooth!
I knew what had happened and I dreaded telling Ezra. He was so excited to put his first tooth under his pillow, it's all he talked about!
I looked at him and tried to make it sound as special as I could - You ATE your tooth Ezra!!!!  
Can I just tell you there is no possible way to make those five words sound special - I tried!
The look on that sweet, little face broke my heart. My older kids saw how upset he was getting and started clapping and yelling how awesome it was to eat a tooth. Within minutes Ezra was laughing and calling Daddy at work to tell him he ATE his tooth!

Later that night we wrote the tooth fairy a little note explaining where Ezra's tooth was. In the morning he was very happy to find a gold dollar in place of the note.

Today Ezra discovered he has a second loose tooth and told me he will NOT eat any hot dogs until his tooth falls out INTO his hand!