As some of you have heard
by now, James is short one front tooth. Apparently, tile floors + wet toes +
arms wrapped in a snuggly, fluffy towel = a face plant onto said tile floor.
That’s what James learned the hard way Saturday. I was upstairs when I heard
crying and Cameron yelling for my help. I ran downstairs to find him holding
James who had a bloody nose and one of his front teeth badly chipped. Maddie
was helpfully running around in the background crying “What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna DO?!” We comforted both of them with news that, yes, Norway
has dentists.
As luck would have it, Norway not only has dentists, but
they are free for children, although we were told getting an appointment might
be tricky. The nurse at the embassy made a few calls and we were in business.
Yesterday, In the middle of a morning outing to IKEA with another embassy wife,
she got a call on her cell from Cameron saying that the dentist could see him
that day at 12:30. And so after a walk around the store, this dear girl – who I
was meeting for the first time – gamely drove us to the dentist office and
entertained Lucy and her own 18mo with Cheerios and Shaun the Sheep in her car
while I took James into his appointment. Seriously.
They had a look at the dangling tooth and decided that it had to
come off. It was the same tooth that he injured over the summer and it had been
repaired. They were shocked, almost horrified that such a procedure had been
performed on a young child. But the dentist said she’d have a go at reattaching
it, with the understanding that she’d take it off if that didn’t work. It
didn’t work. James was basking in all
the attention and enjoying his status as the most well-behaved little patient
they'd ever seen when all of a sudden YANK. He was so offended, he was
speechless for a good 2 or 3 minutes but revived when he saw a little plastic
treasure chest holding one tiny tooth.
All afternoon, he begged me to put his "treasure
tooth" back on. By the end of the day, Maddie had pumped him up for a
visit from the tooth fairy. We put it under his pillow and both kids were
excited to go to sleep and see what all this business is about. In the morning,
Maddie ran into his room and they yanked back the pillow. All they saw was the
little treasure chest and Maddie said, dejectedly, "It didn't WORK."
I prompted them to open the box and sure enough there was a shiny 20 kroner piece ($4) waiting for him. Maddie was as pleased as James and fully expects to be given a
little taste of whatever he picks out with his money, which shouldn't be a
problem. She's waited a long time for this.
