Eleanor lost a tooth

Like any mom, every milestone a kid meets is a little bittersweet - "You're growing up!!" vs. "You're growing up..." I am so thrilled for Eleanor every time she gains a little more independence, but also so, so sad that my baby isn't a baby anymore! Somehow this particular milestone, though, really got me! Part of it was because it happened so early - Eleanor is still four years old and losing a tooth at four is not as common as loosing a tooth between five and seven, so I was a little unprepared for it. I shouldn't be surprised though because she got teeth earlier than the rest of the kids did, and she's done almost every milestone early compared to both her siblings and her friends. The other part that got me though is that this tiny tooth that fell out of her little mouth is kind of symbolic of the first piece of her childhood to be gone for good. That tiny tooth started forming when I was just 6 weeks pregnant with her and now five incredibly short years later, it's gone forever.

She told us on the way home from church the other day that one of her teeth was loose and Chris and I didn't believe her. When we got home, she showed us, and we were very surprised - she had a loose tooth, and it was actually quite loose! A friend reassured me this was relatively normal and that it could take her weeks to lose, but sure enough, two days later she came out of her room in the middle of nap time and proudly handed over her tooth. Truly, the only thing I can call this is bittersweet!