My oldest has his first loose tooth! This was such exciting news…a few weeks ago when we first discovered it.  It’s since been overshadowed by a birthday party, a new phone, a stomach virus, an ice storm, and myriad other life events. I’m beginning to wonder if the tooth is really loose at all, or if it was just wishful thinking on all of our parts.  The child just turned seven, and all of his friends have already lost teeth.  When he got his school pictures back he said, “I look like a man, except I have baby teeth.”

The wait for this milestone has been agonizingly long.

It was his anxiety over his baby teeth that inspired this story.

I haven’t lost a single tooth,

and now I’m six years old!

But each time I complain to mom

this is what I’m told,

“Mother Nature can’t be hurried,

you can’t rush Father Time,

so don’t you fret and don’t you worry.

You’re growing up just fine.”

I’m afraid someone will giggle

at my tiny baby teeth.

But I can’t get a single wiggle

from up top or underneath.

Mom says, “Mother Nature can’t be hurried,

you can’t rush Father Time,

so don’t you fret and don’t you worry.

You’re growing up just fine.”

I’m trying to be patient,

but it’s really hard, you see.

My friends talk about the Tooth Fairy.

Will she ever come see me?

Mom says, “Mother Nature can’t be hurried,

you can’t rush Father Time,

so don’t you fret and don’t you worry.

You’re growing up just fine.”

I guess I’ll stop complaining.

I mean, really, what’s the use.

After all, they’re only teeth.

Wait a minute…

Is this one loose?

© Amy Porterfield 2015