Ryan lost a tooth yesterday.

We know this because he came up from watching TV in the basement during breakfast and announced “I lost a tooth.”

Ever the literal child, Ryan’s pronouncement meant exactly what he said: He lost a tooth. As in, pulled it out of his mouth and misplaced it somewhere. Missing. Lost.

Now, this did not come as a total surprise. A bedtime Saturday night, he complained of a loose tooth that was painful. I examined it and found the tooth, one of his lower molars, barely wiggling. I gave him a small dose of ibuprofen as much for his mindset as for the pain. I told him the tooth wasn’t very loose and probably wouldn’t come out right away. Veronica cautioned him about pulling it out himself.

You see, he’s done this before. The last tooth he lost, he was waiting in the car while I ran into a convenience store to buy a gallon of milk. I was gone perhaps two minutes. When I got back in the car, he casually mentioned, “Hey Dad, I lost a tooth. Here.” He handed me the tooth and grabbed a napkin to dab the blood.

No big deal, right? I mean it’s just a tooth. The one before that I don’t think we even realized he had lost until he told us. It may not even have been the next day. I don’t think we ever found that one.

I love that he doesn’t get upset by a little pain and some minor bleeding, but I kind of wish he cared a little more about the milestone of loosing a tooth. The Tooth Fairy still comes to our house, but it’s tricky with Ryan because we first have to FIND the tooth before we can place it under his pillow.

I left to play hockey last night just before bedtime. Before I did, I went down to the basement to see if I could find the tooth. Which I did, buried among the remotes and Wii-motes on the table in front of the couch. I brought it upstairs and gave it to Ryan, and reminded him to put it under his pillow.

When I got home long after bedtime, I found the tooth still sitting on the upstairs coffee table. I sighed, picked it up and went into his room to make sure the Tooth Fairy would visit.

He was almost out the door for school this morning when I asked him if the Tooth Fairy had come. He found the money, but quickly forgot about it. A few minutes later I spotted the bills on my dresser.

Sigh.

Maybe some day my son will care about money. That’s a more important life skill than caring about lost teeth.

As far as pulling your own teeth? Maybe Ryan is just preparing for a career in the NHL.

The following are not for the squeamish