Losing teeth

Last night Caleb lost a tooth. It was his second, which reminded me that in my pre- and post-Christmas rush I never wrote in here about his first. We were at my parents house in Idaho after Christmas and his tooth was getting very loose. See, he was a little worried about the actual losing of the tooth, because Big Sister Felicity had informed him of what happened. I don't think she meant to scare him, but she is our Drama Queen so when she said "blood," she made it sound a little gruesome. So he was nervous and excited, but didn't want anyone's interference. Especially after I told him (maybe Felicity learns it from me? whoops) that if he told Grandpa about a loose tooth, Grandpa would get out his pliers and pull it out. When I was little he always offered the pliers, but if we had accepted, I really don't think my tenderhearted dad could have done it. So back to the story, Farris was helping Caleb brush his teeth and noticed that it was just hanging in there, but Caleb would not let him put his hands in his mouth. So what does Daddy do? Calls in Mommy, while pantomiming a yank behind Caleb's back. I told Caleb I wanted to see, and then pulled. Yuck, I know. It wasn't more than a little tug. OK I'll stop with the details (I know you're gagging right now, Julie, sorry). Caleb yelped and then was excited. But he was more careful. When his next tooth started getting wiggly the next day, he wasn't about to let anybody in his mouth. The Tooth Fairy decided to wait until we got home (ummm, yeah, it's not because our T.F. is a little slow and forgetful, I'm sure) and Caleb even bribed her with some candy. He only got two dollars (which I think is pretty good), so he decided the candy hadn't helped him. Last night Farris was helping him brush his teeth--sound familiar?--and called me into the bathroom for more dirty work. This time when I told Caleb I wanted to see, he opened his mouth, I reached in, he backed away and said 'Just don't pull it out!" I held up my hand and said "Are you sure? 'Cause look!" He hadn't even felt it that time, it was so loose. This time the Tooth Fairy worked quickly and exchanged the tooth that night. But no candy, so he only got a $1.50. That'll teach him.
And by the way, what do you think the Tooth Fairy should do with those teeth? Felicity always wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking if she could keep her teeth, and then would lose it in the next couple of days. Vacuum. But Caleb lets the tooth fairy keep them, and she's a little at a loss...is it bad parenting to throw them away? Because with four kids, that's a lot of teeth piling up, and kind of grosses me out. I'm not dentist material. Except for the tooth pulling, I'm an expert on that.