a shark's tooth necklace.

on saturday, we took the kids to the san francisco zoo for the first time. (it was LOVELY by the way) while we were there, nicholas found some sort of bone that he felt for sure was an animal's tooth. he asked brian, "dad, do you think this is a shark's tooth?" followed by, "if it is a shark's tooth, what part of the mouth do you think it was from?" followed by, "if it's not a shark's tooth, what animal do you think it is from?" and on, and on. (you gotta love a child's curiosity-- it's one of God's gifts to them.) i think the entire way home, he asked and talked about shark's teeth. he wanted to make a necklace out of this one. we thought we could help. until...
the bone thing broke.
he was so upset. so of course to comfort him, we told him we could buy a shark's tooth necklace for him. then the questions picked up again. "dad, when do you think we can get a shark's tooth necklace?"
"dad, where do you get them from?"
"if we see an ocean or fish store on the way home, can we stop to get my necklace?"
again, "dad, when can we get one?" brian responded, "nicholas, i've already told you, as soon as we get a chance to look for one. you need to stop asking." then nic asked, "but i don't know when you're talking about." (he probably worries deep down that his procrastinator parents might forget or something.) brian said, "nic, you need to drop it."
nicholas paused for a second and asked, "dad, how am i supposed to drop it? am i to take my brains out of my head and drop them on the floor??"
we appreciated the comic relief from the berating questions.
but isn't that how we feel at times too? when our minds spin on the same thought or worry like a broken record. we just stare at the record player and drive ourselves crazy instead of just pulling the plug. maybe surgical removal is a logical solution!
after that, the questions stopped for a day. i guess there were bigger things to contemplate in his little six year old mind...
until tonight. he lost his second tooth! it was such an exciting night. he came out to the car as i was driving in from the grocery store and told me his tooth was loose. i asked if he had tried to pull it, and he immediately did. and it came out! he was thrilled.
we ran to make a note and envelope for the tooth fairy.
and on our sleepy way back down the hall to get back into bed nicholas looked at me and asked,
"mom, when can i get a shark's tooth necklace?" (i guess he felt a bond...)