For a seven-year-old, Elias has a lot of baby teeth - until the other day, he had only lost two.
Then, on that other day, the whole family was on the bow, watching whales from the anchored boat. Elias was taunting his brother and was therefore banished to the stern by the captain.
The next thing we heard from him was a howl of pain - while he was meant to be meditating on his evil ways in the solitude of the back deck, he somehow managed to slip on the swim ladder and smash face-first into something hard and metallic - we're not sure what.
There was blood, there were lots of tears. And when we had everything cleaned up, it was apparent that Elias was on his way to losing tooth #3 - one of his front teeth. It hadn't been loose before the fall, but was now hanging by a thread:
He suffered through lunch like that, making do with a meal of pineapple juice and soft coconut meat, before he got brave and asked me to yank the tooth out.
He was of course very excited by the prospect of a visit from the Tooth Fairy - how easy it is for kids to believe! And he made this sign for his door, perhaps out of lingering concern over the ability of the Tooth Fairy to find our boat. Similar questions often arise during Santa and Easter Bunny season.
It says, "Please come Tooth Fairy... I have just lost my 3rd tooth".
The Tooth Fairy came, and left two pa'anga. Elias was well pleased, and quickly blew the windfall in the Neiafu fishing store.
The scene at breakfast the next day.
And the view from the breakfast table.
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