Kids are small for such a short amount of time, and many of us moms want to preserve the little stage for as long as possible. In addition to taking thousands of photos, parents have been known to collect footprints and handprints, save locks of hair, bronze baby shoes, and in the case of one family, collect baby teeth and display them in custom wood carvings to be enjoyed by the whole family for decades.
One TikTok mom decided to make a quick video showing her husband's family's tradition for preserving baby teeth because, well … it's hilarious, and the internet went absolutely wild.
The wife had no idea this would be so huge.
Apparently, their method for saving a piece of childhood isn’t so common. When Claire Linkhart, who lives in Ohio, discovered that her husband’s family did this with his baby teeth, she recorded the TikTok, chuckling about the moment, not realizing that more than 8 million people would find it amusing as well.
She found the unusual items in her husband's childhood bedroom.
Claire started dating her husband, Rob, more than a decade ago, according to Today. During a trip to his childhood home, she found some unique heirloom in his old bedroom: two hand-carved wooden beavers, complete with teeth.
Those teeth, Linkhart would learn, belonged to both Rob and his brother, Adam.
Rob's grandmother commissioned the beavers.
“I was completely speechless,” Linkhart told Today Parents. “How could such a treasure be hidden from our relationship?” she asked.
“My husband’s late grandmother had them made at a craft fair,” Linkhart explained of how the beaver came to be.
Adam's beaver had way more teeth than Rob's did.
Claire thought the beavers were funny so she posted a video of them on TikTok. She didn’t narrate it. Instead, she included audio of someone saying “Gahdamn” over and over again with varying levels of shock.
She offered an explanation by writing this over the photos: “My husband’s grandma put his baby teeth into wooden beavers for eternal preservation. [skull emoji].”
In the last frame of the video, she showed Adam’s beaver, which includes a full set of teeth, to which Claire remarked, “His brother’s bottom set absolutely kill me.”
The beavers have become quite the conversation pieces.
The Linkharts now show off Rob’s beaver in their dining room display cabinet. Adam displays his on a living room bookshelf.
As Claire said, “They make for great party conversation starters.”
We bet they do! Would you preserve your kids’ teeth like this?
