Mapengo already?

Last week Mich picked up an apple to eat and gave up on it before I could say "when".

He nibbled a bit and put it a side, when asked why he'd lost appetite so soon he said, "I tried eating it from this side but I wasn't biting, then I tried it on this side and I wasn't biting". He was basically trying to use his molars to bite into the apple.

I did a dental check and found out that my baby, my little boy, my cutie pie, is about to lose his first tooth.

Childhood memories came flooding back, I recalled the fun Simon and I had shaking loose teeth until they came off.
Simon was the crazy one, he once tied a loose tooth with a piece of thread and attached the other end to a door nob, and... I leave you to figure out the rest.
My elder brother Peter lost a tooth while munching on his bread one morning, I don't quite recall if he found it or just discovered it was missing - meaning he swallowed it :-).

Emphasis was placed on the importance of presenting evidence and informing adults once a tooth was out because they were the middle men between the little people and the rats/mice. You wanted to obey that rule because otherwise you risked missing the gift.

Speaking of mice and teeth, I'm wondering whether I should do the whole tooth fairy thing with Mich. For starters it's not true, but it's lots of fun for the kid. I remember my imagination running wild just thinking about this rat that travelled from miles away carrying a present on it's back because he had been informed I had lost a tooth.
Several years later I figured it out, I don't think I was disappointed but again, it's not truth.
I'm thinking of just letting Mich know that I will give him a little something for each tooth he loses but then I might inspire him to knock them all out so really..., advice anyone?

The part I didn't like was being called "mapengo", a Swahili word for toothless.

But wait!, Mich is only 4 years old, how is this happening so soon? Isn't this supposed to happen at 6 or 7 years of age?
But on the other hand, it makes sense, this is the same boy who started teething at 4 months. You can imagine my shock when I set him to breastfeed and the fellow was sharpening his incisors on me.
4 months people! what ever happened to 6 months, 1 year, you know, like the books say?
At the same time my insides feel like jelly - my baby is growing up, before I know it he will be a teenager, a college grad, a husband, a father, a grandfather eh! this is getting spooky.
How do you describe the state of being exhilarated, anxious, hopeful and elated all in one word?

Parenting is an amazing package, full of surprises, ups and downs, In's and outs and everything in between.