My son lost another of his baby teeth last night. It's old dad's job to, ahem, you know...do the that silver- dollar thing that dads do. Except in our house it's Gold Sacajawea dollars. Anyway, BrainyBoy (v7.6) has lost about seven baby teeth so far, and once again it was my responsibility to, um, do that thing. He put the tooth in a Ziplock bag and put it under his pillow, and went fast asleep.
I stayed up to watch some of the Colts-Bucs game, then went to bed.
Notice what's left out of that sequence of events?
This morning, GiggleGirl wanders into our bedroom about 6:30, starts chatting with my wife. I roll over and lightning strikes me right between the eyes.
I FORGOT !!!!
I leap out of bed, struggle to extract myself from the covers - my wife's dumfounded at my antics and is worried something's really wrong - I say, "Tooth! tooth!" and make vague gestures toward BrainyBoy's room and downstairs where the coins are stored. Since GiggleGirl was in the room, I couldn't actually say anything, I just made odd noises and movements for a moment, and fled.
"He's already awake - his sister's been talking to him" I hear from my wife behind me...
I then hear movement from BrainyBoy's room - he's moving around, rattling the rails of his bunk bed.
Hurry!! Down the stairs, to the kitchen - open the cabinet, pull out a coin from the secret hiding place, rush back up the stairs....
*Creak* *Rattle*as he climbs down the bunk bed ladder. I walk nonchalantly toward his room, expecting any moment to hear a cry of dismay as he checks under his pillow...
Nothing so far - I am cautiously hopeful.
We pass in the hall. "Morning, Fred." "Morning, Ralph."
He ambles toward our bedroom. I nonchalantly continue toward his as if I do this every morning. Which I don't - I'm usually still catching a couple more z's.
Into his room, around the bed, grab the Ziplock bag - drop the coin in, fumble inside for the tooth - there it is! Replace bag - no time to Ziplock it back up! Walk calmly out of the room back down the hall. I have the tooth in my hand - no pockets in a pair of boxers - and peacefully set it up on the top of my computer desk, out of sight, to put away later.
Back in my bedroom, back into the bed. The kids are there watching TV, my wife's getting up to take a shower. I plop back in the bed. My wife looks at me from the door to the bathroom - I give her the "OK" sign.
A few calm minutes later, I ask him, "Hey, don't forget about your tooth..."
BrainyBoy (eyes on TV): "Yeah, I know. I'll check it later..."
Breathe, Barry, breathe...
