First in, First out

Way back in the day...  I had a job.
Every day I got up and went in.  I showered and wore makeup.  Most days, anyway.
And when I was working I would often use the phrase "First In, First Out" or "FIFO".  We also said "LIFO" but that was not as common.
The phrase referred to certain retirement plans.  The money that went into the plan first was removed first at retirement - meaning, in most cases, clients were going to have to pay taxes on that income that they had not yet paid taxes on because they had invested it immediately.
For the past couple of weeks I have been saying "FIFO" in a very different way.

My beautiful baby girl has been wiggling her very first loose tooth.  The looseness was first discovered about 2 weeks ago (give or take, short-term memory is not my strong suit) and unless my long-term memory deceives me, it was in fact, the very first one to grow in back in June, 2006.

Here she is, pointing to her first 2 teeth.

At this point you pretty much wanted to steer clear of those chompers - or risk losing a finger.

Did this kid ever close her mouth?

The final hours of the tooth's life was not without it's drama.
It was literally hanging by a thread and Abby was beside herself with fear.  She was crying with huge tears and snot bubbles, deep shuddered breaths of "I'm Sca-a-a-a-a-a-a-red" but she was very brave.  She was afraid it was going to hurt.  This is a girl who waits for bandaids to fall off on their own.  She did not want me to even look at it.

After some time (and some Tylenol) she calmed down enough to be treated to a Smoothie - on the couch while resting comfortably with a blanket & pillow.  I was in the kitchen when I heard a quiet, not alarmed but sort of amazed "Mommy!"
I walked in and was greeted with a tiny little hand holding out an even tinier little tooth.
It was out.

I know that was a tiny tooth in a tiny mouth but I had not idea how tiny it was until it was in my mama-sized hand. 
I was overwhelmed.  I cheered, I got choked up, I hugged her, I was beaming!  What an amazing thing.

Babies grow teeth.
Big girls lose them.
My baby is a big girl! 

Being that this was her first tooth, her Daddy & I left her a little treat (Tangled on DVD - what a great movie!) and the Tooth Fairy was super-generous to celebrate the inaugural tooth with $10.
Abby was so excited to use the special Tooth Fairy Box that Jody, Q & K gave her at her Baptism and the Tooth Fairy definitely came because the tooth was gone in the morning!

It was a very big deal.  We are all very excited.
Let's just hope the big girl realizes the first one is the big deal and she'll need to tone it down as we go through the next 19.