Loose Tooth | Where did the time go?

From the moment my daughter was born, I have watched her grow from a tiny baby into the sweet 5 year old girl she is today. Only when I break out the baby book or a photo album from long ago, does the change in her really hit home. Seeing her daily, I don’t notice the little changes that occur as she gets older.

Yet yesterday something happened that truly made me sit back and think about the years that have gone by…she has a loose tooth. It may seem trivial as it happens to all children at this age, yet to me it marks the significant realization that she is no longer my tiny little one that needed me for everything…. and I am scared beyond words.

The excitement I seen in my daughters’ face over that one loose tooth could have been the same as when she got her drivers license or if she had said she was getting married. My heart sunk. That little tooth was one of the first to come in, and soon, that much celebrated and photographed tooth will be gone.
I love every piece of her, right down to the last tooth.

On top of that, growing new and bigger teeth is a very rough stage for children. I recall how {dare I say} funny it looked to have one huge tooth in front. I have my own very loathed pictures from that age to prove it, and I hated every aspect of that time. Though my peers were chicklet-bearing grinners as well, I vividly recall how awkward it felt for me, and that I was very self-conscious. Feeling this way, I smiled less until many years later when the other teeth joined those front monstrosities.
I don’t want my girl to smile less.

Oh, my once baby-girl, why do you have to grow up so fast? It’s so true, in the blink of an eye…cherished pieces such as baby teeth are too-soon replaced – evidence that years come and go
before parents are truly ever ready for it.

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