Losing teeth and winning an award

Losing teeth and winning an award

It’s fair to say that Monkey has ridden an emotional rollercoaster this last week.  He’s been losing teeth and winning an award.  He’s never-ceasing to amaze me, almost on a daily basis.  But the teeth, wow the teeth!  He’s lost two teeth in the last week, both of his front top teeth, and in there lies a story or two.

I’ll take you back to last Wednesday.  I picked Monkey up from school and as we walked home he mentioned that a friend had nudged him in the face accidentally and one of his wobbly teeth has been hit.  He seemed fine, and these teeth have been wobbling for literally months.  I thought nothing more of it.

Then came dinner time, chicken fajitas, as favourite of Monkey’s.  He took one bite and burst into tears.  What’s the matter.  My tooth, my tooth has bent back, it hurts! Cue hysterics for 2 hours, crying, screaming and basically letting me nowhere near him.  When he finally agreed to open his mouth and show us his tooth, we could clearly see it was very loose.  Monkey, just pull it and it will come out, it will be so much easier to eat then.  Oh no, that wasn’t happening, cue more tears and a refusal to east anything.  Even yoghurt and ice cream were no go areas.

Finally it was bedtime and he’d calmed down.  We looked at his tooth again, really wobbly, to the point I was concerned he’d swallow it in his sleep.  Monkey, one of us has to pull this tooth out.  It’s better if you do it yourself you know.  No Mummy, ok, well in that case you need to let me pull it out.  Ok Mummy.  Phew, a quick tug and out it came, and almost instantly Monkey’s smile returned.  Thank you Mummy.  Now the tooth fairy can come too!  Indeed Monkey, but wouldn’t it have been easier if we’d done this 2 hours ago? Tooth number 4 was out.

Losing teeth and winning an award

Looking at his teeth it was clear that the other front tooth was not going to be far behind.

The tooth fairy arrived on Wednesday evening, she very nearly got busted but all was good.

On Friday something rather wonderful happened.  Monkey received an award during assembly – Achiever of the Week for his superb story writing.  I’d seen the work myself on Wednesday morning.  The handwriting was brilliant and unlike anything I really see at home.  The content of his story was really good, vocabulary too.  He really did deserve the award.  But that’s not the most amazing thing.

Losing teeth and winning an award

Monkey stood up in assembly and read his story to the entire school.  God how I wish I’d seen that.  I would have wept for sure.  This is the boy who has struggled in group situations, even with people he’s known well, all his life.  It is beyond amazing that he had the self belief to be able to do this and I am so immensely proud of him for getting up and doing it.  Just brilliant.

Monkey’s cousin is a Year One teacher and she sent me a text that evening to say just how impressed she was too, both with his work and the way he spoke out.  She put in a lot of the ground work with him last year, and it was lovely to have her feedback.

We’re all still buzzing for this wonderful achievement, when it comes back to tooth watch. There’s been a bit more interest in wobbling his tooth since Wednesday and as we sat down for dinner on Sunday evening I asked Monkey to show me the latest wobble.  Wow, Monkey you could pull that one out I reckon.  No Mummy, it definitely isn’t ready.  Uum, I don’t think that one will make it home from school tomorrow.  Clearly I should be a fortune-teller.  Not less than half and hour later, we’re all enjoying our dinner and then there were tears again, and rather more blood than I’d care to look at mid meal.  Mummy I’ve swallowed my tooth!  Are you sure?  You’ve still got a lot of food in your mouth?  No, I’ve swallowed it, he says as he wipes his mouth and sees the blood, cue further hysteria.  Ok Monkey, well if you’ve swallowed it, it’s gone.  Let’s face it tooth 3 had the same fate at school earlier in the year.  You’ll live, the tooth fairy will still come.  Drink some water and you’ll feel better.  Tooth 5 gone.

Losing teeth and winning an award

When he was cleaned up I could actually see the bottom of his new tooth already coming through.  Fast work.

The last time we had a swallowed tooth, it was down to me to right a letter explaining the situation to the tooth fairy.  Not this time, Monkey took charge of the situation and  not only was she getting an explanation, she was getting a drawing too.

Losing teeth and winning an award

Now it would appear that Monkey is saving his best handwriting for the classroom, but I’m sure the tooth fairy wouldn’t mind.  The addition of a Toothy Turtle to the drawing made me smile.  Monkey has a pewter Toothy Turtle that we leave out when he loses a tooth. The tooth fits inside the shell and is replaced with money overnight.  So in this instance the tooth fairy would discover his letter and drawing instead.  Both of which will be secretly treasured for years to come.

Losing teeth and winning an award all in one week, it’s been a bit mental to be frank. There was me thinking we’d achieved enough in one week, but no, Monkey had something else up his sleeve. He came running out of school yesterday, Mummy, I’ve gone up another book band with my reading books.  Wow, Monkey that’s brilliant, well done.  You see the difference reading some of your own books as well as school books is making?  Finally the penny is starting to drop.  He’s realised that he is more than capable of reading the majority of the books we have at home.  He’s not as keen to read them to me, rather than me reading to him, but he’s making a start, and that’s progress.  His school book reading is great, really great.  He’s exactly where he should be for a Year Two reader, his comprehension is good too, and he’s starting to share that knowledge with others when questioned.

This boy, this nearly 7-year-old boy is coming on in leaps and bounds.  To see the change in him is just marvelous to watch.  To see that his teachers are just as proud of him as I am is lovely too.  To see that they are now seeing the boy I know he is, the bright, imaginative boy, the boy with ideas, the boy who remembers everything.  It’s just wonderful.

I feel like I’m repeating myself at the moment, but the progress he’s made at school since September is almost overwhelming.  I hope he can keep it up, and stay on track, stay where he needs to be in the challenging terms ahead.  I was so concerned about how he would cope with the added pressures the curriculum puts on Year Two children now.  I was terrified he’d be swallowed up by it all and would just sink.  That what I knew was deep inside him would remain there, suffocated by the demands of school.  But Monkey has risen to the challenge and has been an absolute superstar, and I’m in awe of him.  Of the boy he’s becoming, I look in wonder at the boy he will be as he turns 7 next month.

Losing teeth and winning an award, just the tip of the iceberg for a boy who now believes that he too can fly, that he can chase his dreams.  You rock my son, you really do.

Now anytime you feel like sleeping all night in your own bed again, like you did for the first 6 years of your life Monkey, that would be fine with me x

4 thoughts on “Losing teeth and winning an award

  1. Oh bless J lost both top teeth within a week and it was hell at meal times. Thankfully we are now onto the rest of the teeth…Congrats on his award, well done young man!

  2. This is so funny – we had exactly the same with Pierre last week ! Both front teeth out in the same week after months and months of wobbling and he swallowed the first one with his roast dinner !! Aahhh kids !

  3. What a lovely post and what an amazing week for him – and you! No wonder you are proud of him, it must be wonderful to see.
    My kids have now lost a total of 59 teeth between them and they haven’t swallowed a single one! My daughter has a tendency to pull them out slightly before they’re ready!

  4. I had to laugh when you said you have been hanging on to the teeth for months. We finally lost the fourth bottom one and it feels like it has been wanting to come out for ages. We also have one little scared, unsure boy when it comes to wobbly teeth. Monkey is doing so well, it’s so lovely to read. It’s like he knows what he is doing now and is running with it. Keep up the good work Monkey.

    Thanks for linking up with Small Steps Amazing Achievements :0)
    x

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