Congratulations, it's a baby ... tooth??

Could someone please explain to my body what age group I am supposed to be in? I've already mentioned the recent discovery of a gray hair. And, as you can probably pick out in my pictures, I still get zits on a regular basis. But today ... well, this is the last straw.

I lost my last baby tooth today.

OK, so it's not like I didn't expect this day to come. I knew I had a baby tooth in the back of my mouth that would come out eventually. And yet, it's been really weird to have the experience of wiggling a loose tooth around in my mouth for the past few weeks. All of those childhood memories have been flooding back -- being devastated at losing my first tooth in a Hostess cupcake, thus swallowing it before I knew what happened; sitting in the cafeteria at Eugene Field Elementary School, being dared by my peers to pull hard on a loose tooth to get it out; waking with anticipation to see if the Tooth Fairy really left me a shiny quarter. Ah, those were the days, I tell you!

So, now I have a gaping hole in the back of my mouth (thank goodness it's not up front, thus sparing me from a hillbilly-esque appearance for the next several months!). In all fairness, I'm not the only adult still harboring vestiges of my youth. It's actually fairly common that people get baby teeth that have no permanent teeth formed beneath them. I've met a lot of people in the same boat (though Jodster, you take the cake, buddy!).

So, once I get back to the US, I get to start the long process of getting an implant put into that hole. My dentist will be SO happy -- he's been salivating over the opportunity since I first saw him. (By the way, I picked my dentist because of his ad in the yellow pages that proclaimed, "We cater to cowards.") I had a ton of dental work done as a kid, including retainers, braces, surgery, and a total of 10 teeth pulled. Man, would I have been UGLY! It was a miserable time, but I'm glad for the mouth that I have to show for it. Oh, in case you were wondering, my childhood dentist wanted to pull this baby tooth and put in a bridge, but when he told me what he was going to do that day, I cried and he felt too bad for me to do it. So, I've had it ever since! I feel ready now to go through the pain of getting the tooth replaced, so I'm glad I was allowed to wait. (Of course, I wish my parents had paid for it instead of me!!)

And, since everyone loves a happy ending ... Sabra, one of my longest and dearest friends, just gave birth on Friday to a healthy baby girl! Mia Marcella joined the world at 12:10 pm central, weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Mia joins two brothers, Bruce and Sam. I am so excited for the whole family, and only sad that I'm too far away to visit. I'll post pictures as soon as they are available. In the meantime...

Welcome, Mia!