» The Bug has a loose tooth! His first. (Still has all his baby teeth.) The wiggly fellow appeared on the bottom row near the middle .. a little incident that hearkens the arrival of bigger things. One more milestone on the road to maturity.
Many of the kids in his kinder-class already have teeth missing. (I nicknamed one of his classmates "Toothless" .. after the Night Fury that starred in How to Train your Dragon.) So we were kinda expecting this.
He noticed it earlier this week while brushing before bed (.. not the easiest thing to get him to do).
The next morning he woke me at 5AM » "Dad!"
Me » "What, pun'kin?"
"My tooth feels looser!" He sounded wide awake. I glanced at the clock. "Oh, honey. It's *very* early."
"Can I play some games?" he asked.
"You should get some more sleep. It's still dark out."
He's a sound sleeper and rarely wakes early. Fortunately he fell back asleep.
Friday morning at school, he was showing it to all his friends. Later, when I picked him up after school, he had received an award that day for demonstrating 'Enthusiasm'.
I asked his teacher, "Was he enthusiastic today?"
"Very," she said with a smile. =)
He seems to be doing well in school. He can read already, and the week prior, he was called up in front of the entire school to receive an award for Self Control, which came with a gift certificate for a cup of frozen yogurt from a local yogurt house .. and that's exactly where we went soon as we left.
Self-control and enthusiasm .. seem like opposites, no? Opposite ends of the spectrum. Bi-coastal.
» Love, Affection & Attention
I try to give him as much (unconditional) love & affection as I can .. in the limited time we have together each week.
Sometimes I hold him tightly on my lap, cradling him, and kiss him all over his face .. his eyes, his cheeks, his forehead, his ears. Everything. A kissing machine gone wild.
This week, in the midst of these merciless kisses, I paused to tell him, "You know, I only get to see you for a few days each week. So when you go back to mom, I save up all my love while you're away, and I then fill you up with it when I have you again." Then I proceed to kiss him all over his face some more.
He laughs, giggles, even squeals when I get near his ears. "I fill you up with love," I said, "until it starts gushing out of your ears. Look, there! It's starting to ooze out of your ears!" And I madly kiss him some more.
When I finally stopped, he pointed to his right ear (with eyes sparkling & his baby-teeth smile) and said, "It's only coming out of this ear, dad. It's not coming out of the other one yet." =) Too cute.
At which point, I attack his face with scores more. Goes to show that you can never give kids too much affection.
I'm sure there will come a day when he will have none of this .. when he'll be too cool for kisses from his dad. But until that day arrives » incoming! Take cover!