Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Go Fish...

I have to share this little gem. My daughter is beginning to teethe, and it reminds me of when my two older boys were teething. It's more fun when they get older, and lose their baby teeth. The tooth fairy comes, and money is left. This particular incident happened last year, almost a year ago to the day.

My wife was working her last week at the hospital in Jacksonville, FL as we were preparing to transition out of the Navy and move to LA. She was on night shifts and I didn't usually call her because I know how hectic working on a postpartum floor can be from all of the stories I have heard her tell.

The night started normally, her leaving for work, the kids and I eating and then finishing homework. I let my two sons play in their room an extra 30 minutes that night while I was catching up on some last minute paperwork before I started my civilian job. The normal sounds of kids at play filled the air, laughter, an occasional "I was playing with that" and "You always do that". What happened next scared me to death. My oldest, who was 5 at the time, came running into the living room with his hand covering his mouth. (muffled voice through fingers) "Dad, he knocked my tooth out!!!" I was immediately alarmed. My youngest son, who was 4 at the time, is definitely the more aggressive one, and doesn't always realize how rough he gets. I asked what he got hit with, and he wouldn't answer me. I ran in the bedroom and saw that my youngest son was laying on the bottom bunk of their bunkbeds and laughing hysterically. He was holding a blanket in his hands.

I couldn't figure out why he thought it was soooo funny to knock out someone's tooth. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "How did you do that?" He looked at me and said , I didn't mean to. We were just playing go fish. " I looked around the room and did not see any playing cards or even their official "Go Fish" deck anywhere. I asked him where the cards were at, and he said, "Cards? what cards? We were using the blanket." How can you play "Go Fish" with a blanket? Well... let my son tell you.

....Dad, I was on the top bunk, and he was on the floor. I was the fisher guy, and he was a fish. I threw the blanket out and yelled go fish. And he bit it. I set the hook, and his tooth popped out.

LOL... I couldn't believe he remembered from the one time we went fishing, that you have to set the hook. The tooth gap wasn't even bleeding bad, my oldest son was just in a little bit of post loss drama. He said it didn't hurt, it just scared him. We never found that tooth, but the tooth fairy did leave a little money and a note saying to be more careful being a fish around your brother.