Sibling Squabbles:The Upside

Yesterday I was upstairs listening to a little struggle occurring downstairs. I had asked Emily and Lauren to clean up the mess they had created in the living room. And then I had gone upstairs to feed the baby. To nobody's great surprise, they engaged in the usual cycle of rough housing and giggling which gets louder and louder until it is no longer playful, and pretty soon they come running to me asking me to referee the situation. This is how they avoid work/cleaning/anything unexciting they've been asked to do.



As I listened yesterday, there were giggles and grunts, followed by a sudden silence, and Lauren's panicked voice crying, "My tooth! My tooth!.....Emily, that was my tooth that I already losed!" Then there were the footsteps running up the stairs and girls bursting into my room, blood coming from Lauren's mouth.



Upon first examination, I agreed with Lauren. It looked like one of her two new permanent bottom teeth had been yanked out of place. This was not what any of us expected, since she already lost those two, and her top two have been loosening up recently. But thankfully, we figured out that it was one of the bottom teeth next to the ones she already lost. I don't think it had even wiggled before this incident. Good news, though: the fighting stopped! (and so did the bleeding) And we all had a good laugh.



This is not the first time a tooth has been the victim (or winner, depending on how you look at it) of sisterly spats in our family. Katelyn lost her first tooth as a result of a toy dispute with Emily. And I even get the credit for kicking my brother's tooth out of his mouth. I remember it being an accidental foot to the mouth, but I believe my mom still holds a little bit of a grudge against me for that one.



Moms might get upset about kids losing their teeth prematurely, but kids don't, because they have the Tooth Fairy to look forward to. Plus a fun hole in their mouth to poke with their tongue.



Unfortunately, there's another trend in this family regarding the event of losing a tooth: Our Tooth Fairy is pretty unpredictable. In fact, Lauren came in to my room this morning, and with her sleepy voice she announced, "No Tooth Fairy." The Tooth Fairy tries to redeem herself in these situations by increasing her reward the following night, and usually that satisfies the tooth-loser.



Plus, in this case, I'm kind of glad the Tooth Fairy was a no-show, because I didn't get a chance to take a picture before bed last night.

P.S. Like the bedhead?

P.P.S. See the scratch on Lauren's cheek? Yeah, that's another result of sibling rivalry. Not so cute.