Lost tooth lessons

James had a loose front tooth for ages. He wiggled and waggled and whined and worried.

"It will NEVER come out," he sobbed to me a few times.

We tried to cajole it out a couple times, promising surely this time it would come loose.

To him it felt like forever, but I think it was about a week.

Finally, I Googled (with my fourth child!): "How to remove a loose tooth."

The advice: if there's any bleeding, it's not ready yet. Use a paper towel or dry cloth to grab it without slipping. If it doesn't come out easily, wait another day.

I read this to him, and he agreed to wait another day. 

The next day, he told me his tooth should come out. And it finally did. 

This has become an object lesson for him that we've reminded him about a few times since then. At 6 years old, hyperbole and a lack of perspective rule the day -- "I'm NEVER going to finish this math level," "I'm NEVER going to figure this out..." etc. We talk about how it felt like his tooth would never come out. But it did. When it was time.