Thursday, November 19, 2009

It's All About The Inducements

So Mister Man "lost" his first tooth several weeks ago. He had another tooth that was loose, and he was working on it. I'd explained to him clearly that the needed to get a move on the wiggling of said tooth to ensure we didn't have another incidence of a permanent tooth growing behind the baby tooth. I'm really not into braces (all assurances from Karen, aside, I'm paranoid).

I noticed a week or so ago that I could feel the bump of a tooth starting to form behind it. I gave Mister Man a deadline of this Friday to get the tooth out, or Daddy would have to pull it again. He understood and continued to wiggle.

This afternoon he informed me on the way home from school that the art teacher had good eyes and had spotted a tooth growing behind his baby tooth. He was proud of her eyesight; I simply sighed.

I explained that we needed to hurry up the tooth losing. I tried to cajole him into having Daddy pull it tonight. He was pretty well convinced.

Until, of course, Daddy started feeding his mind with what needed to happen. Then he started freaking out about how he could almost taste the blood in his mouth already. *sigh*

My husband continued to try to talk him into pulling it tonight, but Mister Man was convinced that it would be better tomorrow.

After his shower, I pointed out that he has no school all next week, so if he pulls it tomorrow he won't get his name on the board or tell his friends at school. He wasn't swayed.

Then I brought up Mommy's Special Ice Cream. This would be the ice cream a friend of mine brought back for me from Columbus for my birthday. Of the ice cream from there that I've tried to date, I haven't been willing to share.

I put a deal on the table (literally). One bowl of Mommy's Special Ice Cream from Jeni's in Columbus OH (Wildberry Lavender, which is heavenly btw) if he had Daddy pull his tooth tonight. If not, that offer was off the table, and he wouldn't get Mommy's Special Ice Cream.

He dithered. He couldn't decide. He told me his brain hadn't made its decision yet. He whined a bit, trying to figure out what to do.

In the end though, Mommy knows her boy well. He chose the ice cream.

Daddy pulled the tooth, and he was happy it was done. It wasn't nearly so big a deal as he was making it out to be, he informed me. He literally couldn't sit down to eat his ice cream because he was so excited and happy that he was bouncing up and down.

He called my parents (individually, much to my amusement) and my husband's parents to inform them of the good news. And he also announced that he wasn't going to have the Tooth Fairy visit tonight because he insists on showing his tooth to his grandma and grandpa tomorrow.





But first, he finished every bit of ice cream in that bowl.

And here I thought I was the only one (in the family) where ice cream made it all better.

13 comments:

Brenda November 19, 2009 at 9:59 PM  

Thats so cute. Now he knows that its not so bad. . . . and how to get your ice cream! ;)

Mary~Momathon November 19, 2009 at 11:14 PM  

Yay, it's out!

My daughter had the hardest time with the idea of losing teeth. She would shove them back in. And they came out in small splinters. It was bad and it made her so sad to lose her body parts.

To top it off, some stranger would just come in her room and steal her teeth! Without asking! So she left a dollar behind, so what! Her body was not for sale! Stop letting strangers, like this tooth fairy whoever she is, come in her bedroom and steal her body parts!

Um. Wow, kiddo. That must be why she was shoving those baby teeth back down into her gums.

Glad your boy chose the ice cream!

Mary~Momathon November 19, 2009 at 11:14 PM  

Yay, it's out!

My daughter had the hardest time with the idea of losing teeth. She would shove them back in. And they came out in small splinters. It was bad and it made her so sad to lose her body parts.

To top it off, some stranger would just come in her room and steal her teeth! Without asking! So she left a dollar behind, so what! Her body was not for sale! Stop letting strangers, like this tooth fairy whoever she is, come in her bedroom and steal her body parts!

Um. Wow, kiddo. That must be why she was shoving those baby teeth back down into her gums.

Glad your boy chose the ice cream!

MsTypo November 20, 2009 at 7:28 AM  

Smart kid to choose the ice cream! Let's face it - nowadays there's not much i wouldn't agree to in exchange for a good bowl of ice cream. :p

shortmama November 20, 2009 at 10:02 AM  

I cant blame him there...ice cream would make me do all kinds of things too!

Steven November 20, 2009 at 5:03 PM  

Hope I'm not too late: www.iCaughtTheToothFairy.com

Happy Holiday's.

Steven Lockhardt,
Founder, www.CatchACharacter.com

Teacher Tom November 20, 2009 at 5:06 PM  

My daughter once had a loose tooth that she could turn round and round without it falling out. One night she started doing it while I was eating ice cream. It was so disgusting that I wound up giving her the rest of it. I don't think I could ever yank a kid's tooth. Your husband is my hero.

Michelle November 20, 2009 at 8:02 PM  

Brenda - Nope, he decided today that it was a 1 on a scale of 1 (little deal) to 5 (AHHHH! BIG! DEAL!) instead of the 5 he was pretending it was last night.

Mary - Wow, I never thought of it that way, but I can see how a child would not want to lose a part of herself like tht. Poor thing.

Cairo Typ0 - Yeah, I'm starting him early (and man, that ice cream is GOOD).

shortmama - Nope, I can't blame him either. He's a smart little cookie, isn't he?

Steven - Actually, Mister Man wanted to keep the tooth to show my parents tonight, but ...

Tom - I remember having the teeth that turn around like that. I generally pulled them out at that point. *I* could never yank a tooth, but with other teeth growing in behind the baby ones... that tooth has got to go. My husband comes in awfully handy in those instances :)

septembermom November 21, 2009 at 6:26 AM  

Nothing like ice cream as a motivator! Fun pictures too. My husband always offer to yank a tooth. My kids tend to run the other way :)

Tara R. November 21, 2009 at 7:51 AM  

Congrats on the first lost baby tooth. That ice cream sounds lovely, I can see why it would be a good bribe.

I love that Mister Man wanted to show off his tooth to the Grans.

Angela November 24, 2009 at 11:54 AM  

Ice cream makes it ALL better. I love me some ice cream!

I rememeber the tooth fairy days. And the "dental floss tied to the doorknob" trick of removing stubborn teeth. Yes, that really happened. And yes, I still give my mother grief over it!

Mrs4444 November 27, 2009 at 1:40 AM  

What a great story. I once pulled a tooth from Kyle's mouth as he slept (don't worry-he was all for it, because he knew it was ready but was too terrified to take care of it.) I love that this is blogged about; it'll be a memory to treasure always :)

Michelle December 12, 2009 at 8:57 PM  

Kelly - It is a great one, isn't it? I'm definitely going to keep this in mind for the future!

Tara - Oh it is good ice cream. And they ship it, too :)

Angela - Wow. I've heard about people doing the dental floss thing, but I can't imagine. I was one of those "I'm going to wiggle it until it's out" people who got the barely loose tooth out in two days.

Mrs4444 - I thought Mister Man was a heavy sleeper, but Kyle takes the cake. That's impressive!

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