Is there anything more important in a young man's life than the first time he loses a tooth? Well, I mean aside from his first time walking, talking, sleeping away from home, riding a bike, conducting the Royal Philharmonic, dating Madonna, etc.

For Aidan, 5, the moment he discovered his tooth was loose was wonderous and magical. He would wiggle it with his finger, push it with his tongue and show it to pretty much anyone who could stomach it. He would talk about it incessantly, asking what would happen when it came out, what if he lost it, how would the Tooth Fairy know where he lived, what would happen if she couldn't find it under his pillow, and on and on. In this, he was certainly a normal kid.

I remember when I would loose a tooth. It was fascinating and bizarre and seemed absolutely wrong and super cool all at once. Sometimes it hurt a little, but mostly it was just gross - so that made it awesome! It was also regarded as another step toward growing up. I was losing my "baby teeth," which meant I was no longer a baby. I was so excited about it, I regularly went to biker bars and pushed over as many motorcycles as I could, in the hope that someone would knock all my teeth out and I could speed jump into adolescence. I can tell you, it's not easy to push motorcycles over when you're 5, but the payoff would be tremendous.

Aidan spent the few "Wiggling Tooth Days" just being happy with the situation, and if you really think about it, that's odd. But even weirder than that, were the reaction he received from his peers. One little friend of his was absolutely crestfallen that Aidan could lose a tooth before she did. She cried about it and was obviously angry when the subject came up. I had to tell Aidan, "Now don't brag about your tooth being loose. You know that could hurt some kids' feelings."

I swear he looked at me with an expression that said, "Yeah, right. Whatever dude. Like I'm not going to talk and talk and talk about this. Heck, this is going on YouTube."

When the tooth came out, in the middle of a pool party, he skidded inside the host's house looking for me, soaking wet with a little blood in his mouth, holding the tooth like King Arthur held Excalibur, with the same look of delirious joy on his face. His voice, three octaves higher than usual, shook with delight.

When he returned to the party, all the kids were talking about their Tooth Fairy experiences. While the grownups told stories about getting dimes and quarters as prizes, one little girl explained how she was given $5 for her first tooth. Aidan looked at me wide-eyed with a bloody, semi-toothless grin that took over his head.

And knowing full well Aidan would not get more than $1, I told him the one thing every parent probably tells their excited, hopeful, ecstatic child. "Sorry buddy, I think the Tooth Fairy likes her a lot more than she likes you."

Labels: boy, first, parenting, teeth, tooth