Thalia bounded into my bedroom before the sun was even up with a smile so big, I could spot the missing tooth in the dark.

The first one gone.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of all those early childhood firsts–every week, so many new things to jot down (or uh, forget to jot down) in the baby book. The first smile. The first foods. The first words. The first crawl. The first steps.

It’s all so blissfully basic.

And to think that we worried about those things at one time.

As they get older, the firsts come no less quickly, but it’s as if they’re too complex to define as mere milestones. There’s no baby book page to document the first time she tells you she’s too old for Dora. The first time she walks into her classroom by herself. The first time she loses graciously. The first time she discovers how to really, really tell a knock knock joke so it works. The first time she defends her sister against a mean girl. The first “I hate you.” The first time a little boy breaks her heart.

Today, we just have the lovely simplicity of the first missing tooth.

I’ll take it.