Who needs a dentist?

"My tooth's moving, Mom," LP said, sticking her lower jaw out.

I took a look, and sure enough, one of her lower front incisors yielded to some gentle pressure from my index finger. She asked why.

"Sweetie, you have baby teeth that will last only a few years. It will fall out soon because your permanent teeth are pushing it out. That means you're growing up."

(Side note: She has the best set of teeth I've seen, among kids her age, anyway. No cavities, man! I made it a point to brush her teeth twice a day, since her first tooth came out. Bottle mouth never became a problem, and to think she has only begun to ease away from the bottle. At age six. That's another entry altogether.)

"Did your teeth wobble too when you were a little girl?"

And suddenly, memories came flooding back. Of Mama tying a piece of string around a wobbly tooth and giving it a good yank, of me screaming and tears pouring afterward, and of frozen Jellyace and ice being fed to me to numb the pain over the "stump" where my tooth used to be. For sentimental reasons, Mama kept one of my baby teeth, as well as one of my kid brother's, in her jewelry box.

Will be looking forward to literally pulling teeth!