No one has lost a tooth in the household as of yet, a matter which brings the girl child no end of grief.
When kid after kid in her Kindergarten began to swagger into class of a mornin’, Â gap-toothed and worldly-wise, she started to fret. She asked us why it was that everyone under the sun was loosing a tooth and not her. We told her it was because she was among the youngest in the class if not the youngest, and most kids were losing them at the point one ordinarily does (when one is not a member of a pint-sized after-school fight club, say). Â Upon which news she burst into tears. Â She’s proud of many of her uniquenesses, but clearly, we discovered on the spot, not this one. Â From our standpoint, it’s something to be proud of, her holding her own among her kinda-elders. Clearly we’re looking at the situation from, well, our point of view.
Anyhow, for whatever reason — not tooth loosery on the part of our kid’s, but maybe generosity on the part of another tooth-loosin’ comrade — this sticker found its way into our place and nestled itself alongside a heap of flotsam and jetsam underneath the small work table in our multipurpose room.*
“Baba, there’s an evil train underneath the table!” says the boy child the other day. Â He grabs me by a clump of fingers and leads me into the room.
“What evil train?” sez I.
“That evil train!” sez he, pointing to the orange bug-eyed face thingy grinning maniacally from the shadows.
I kneel down, fish it out, and hold it up for his closer inspection.
“See?” sez he, utterly confirmed.
Brief pause, during which Baba’s mind contorts, and… of course. Thomas the Tank engine books –> Diesel  (a frequently evil train featured in one of them) –> same graphic design style as this braggy tooth sticker, give or take a few engineering details –> sticker = evil train.  A hop, skip, and a jump, and presto! I see what he sees, and he makes perfect sense. It keeps you nimble.
*Multipurpose room=Combo Mama home office/Baba home office/kid’s art space/play space. With low, attic ceiling! It’s loads of fun!
Girlie and I have this common –I lost my teeth late. I had my two front teeth out in fourth grade, and it was a bit humiliating at that age, I’ll be honest. BUT –it is ultimately better for their teeth to come out late, as that’ll be less years their permanent teeth are exposed to the elements.
Just tell her she’ll have better enamel for it in the end…because boy howdy, I can’t think of anything that would comfort her more 😉
Anyway -she will get through it. Be prepared for her to be losing her back molors when she’s 14 though…