the tooth fairy
We are just starting to get excited about the tooth fairy for our oldest – he is six and has lost one tooth with a couple more that seem to sort-of, almost, feel a little bit wiggly especially at night when it’s bedtime and there is only his teeth to play with as he lies there waiting for sleep to wave it’s magic wand…
The idea of her – and she is a she – is magical. And we love magic here. More plausible than fairies in our garden, more anticipated than the Easter bunny, and more stealth than even Santa… somehow she manages to fly in, get under your head, carry away a tooth that is almost as large as she is, and leave a small prize in it’s place that no one could have possibly known you were pining over all without waking you… and better yet – she switches it up and sometimes leaves cold hard cash. This chick is cool.
What isn’t as cool is when your four-year old out looses her teeth to your six-year old.
I’ll spare you the gory details but in a nutshell she was running down the hall in over-tired excitement trying to take off her sweater and lunge at a parting gift that she wanted to hand over to a favorite guest – and when she slipped on the hardwood floor she only had her face to break the fall.
A torn frenulum, fractured palate and five loose teeth presented a grim diagnosis for her shining smile as we took our concussed little munchkin home from the emergency dentist that day. To add to the pain, we came home with two types of antibiotics, orders to ice, drink meals through a straw, and not allow her any trauma – not even a slip up the stairs or a friendly jostle from her sister. Then, and only then, might we save her teeth.
One month. A month of nothing but liquid and melt in your mouth baby-style food, holding hands up the stairs, no sports, constant watch. We all went a little crazy – but we thought we did it – we thought we saved them. We were wrong. A bone infection meant her front two teeth needed to be pulled asap.
Que tooth fairy.
Our incredibly brave, impossibly tough, and very sweet little K was amazing – as was her dentist. As the medication wore off, the car ride home was a glimpse (far, far) into the future for me as she babbled happily like a little drunk and missed her face completely with her Popsicle over and over.
Her reward for bravery and a wonderful attitude was a very early visit from a very special tooth fairy. She wrote a note and placed her teeth under her pillow – she drew pictures and wrote some words explaining she didn’t want money but heard from mom this might be a special occasion and that she could possibly have two extra special magical gifts. We thought she wanted a barbie car and a doll chair. Her note told us we were right on the car but not the chair. Thank goodness tooth fairies are magical because I don’t know how you change your order at 9pm on a week night and still end up with your ask in the morning … nor do I know how this tiny fairy could possibly lug in a car and a pool … even with her magic.
Our tooth fairy did not disappoint. She wrote Kate a special note (it was VERY long) and there was fairy dust from the note all the way to the gifts – which as it turns out she had to leave outside the door – much too heavy to lug in. She knew Kate secretly wanted to keep her teeth so she left her a special container and made an exception to her rule so that K could hang on to her chompers in style. A souvenir she was quick to share with her preschool buddies.
Kate awoke to the magical note and the fairy dust and the special gifts she’d quietly asked the tooth fairy for that no one else knew about … there was gold and silver and stars and glitter everywhere – clearly a sign of all the effort this visit took.
Now …Matty is due to loose another tooth and can’t wait to see the fairy dust and get his next note and little prize… and while he knows it won’t be as big as Kate’s (special circumstances as laid out in the note that the six-year old read in detail) he is still vibrating with excitement about what he might see…
K & C are pretty sure they saw a flash of light while they were asleep that night- and they are pretty sure that was our fairy flying away back home … M can’t wait to try and wait up for her soon…even though he admitted tonight that he knows in his heart she will use her magic and out wit him 😉
Oh tooth fairy – you sly little minx.
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