"I do solemnly swear, to tell the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth".

Oh come on, be honest, you knew that at some point I'd make a corny reference to teeth, right? I'm married to a dentist for crying out loud, the title of this post was an accident waiting to happen!!!

Wouldn't you know it, tonight Joseph lost his first tooth!!!! If that ain't a milestone, I don't know what is! He was brushing teeth with M (I was attempting to tickle Annabel into submission that it was time for bed - she wouldn't give in, dammit), and he came bursting into the room, yelling that his tooth had "fallen out".

Now, call me Mr Suspicious, but I know that M has been twisting, pushing and pulling on that tooth for almost a week now. "The new tooth is trying to come in", she's been saying, like we'd all know better!!!!

Anyways, the bloody gap said it all - it was out; a single trickle of blood down his chin confirmed it's removal and immediately he began questioning the going rate for teeth. Woe betide the tooth fairy if she happens to forget about our house tonight!!

Actually, make that, woe betide me if the tooth fairy doesn't stop by tonight!

Naturally, Missy flew into a jealous rage because Joseph had lost a tooth and she hadn't. M tried to placate her by giving her a "fun" disclosing tablet (I know, I know), which turns your mouth the same colour as eating half a dozen Blackjack chews (remember them?). This worked for about 45 seconds before she decided she "hated" having a black tongue and collapsed on the floor in a tired rage.

Ho, ho, ho, dear me, it's a laugh isn't it??

Ooh, nearly forgot, Joseph woke me last night to tell me his leg was hurting and to be fair to him, his growing pains do seem very genuine, and so, by the time I'd turned on the lights to rifle through the medicine cabinet, I was nice and awake before administering some pain relief before falling back into bed.

M kindly brought a cartoon home from one of today's newspapers which I have reproduced here sans permission (although I have asked), so I may have to remove it.

For now, however, I think it sums up parenthood rather nicely.