For The Wife

Two can play at this game...

...by the way, I love you more.

Tooth Day

As soon as oldest daughter raced out to the car from school today she showed me she had lost yet another of her chewers. So help me, I don't know how she will eat with 1/4 of those things missing, but somehow she will manage.

And then she let me know that she couldn't find that tooth anywhere, and how on earth would she get a visit from the tooth fairy if she had no tooth to present? I assured her that she could jot down a little note and the tooth fairy would take her circumstance into consideration. After all, there has to be some sort of concession made for tooths lost and lost at school.

I have a brother who is a lawyer- if payment is refused, I think I'll have him check into the tooth fairy fine print. In fact, I think his law firm specializes in teeth disputes. Yes, I think that's right. Lucrative specialty.

Tonight after introducing the children (and if you can even believe it- myself) to the world of Amelia Bedelia and sharing many giggles because of that silly Amelia, oldest daughter informed me that she was feeling sad. Sad? Why? No answer was given, and then she changed her feeling statement to one that included butterflies in the tummy. What? You feel like you have butterflies in your tummy? And then it hit me: she was feeling like she had not been totally honest with me. She had been living a lie all afternoon and it was just now catching up to her.

She revealed that she thought she might have possibly perhaps maybe swallowed that tooth. And she was ultra-worried that it was going to make her sick. I was holding back a jack-o-lantern-sized smile as her little concerned/ ashamed expression displayed such remorse at not divulging the whole truth to her mother. As soon as she completed her confession, we discussed exactly what was going to happen to that tooth. And then a new look of concern crossed her sweet little mug. Will I have to get it out for the tooth fairy? Um, no.

So, she has written her letter. And she included extra question marks "because it's a mystery" she said. And I think she has cleared a space for that cute little note under her pillow, just waiting for compensation from the tooth fairy.




Do you wonder what that letter said? Good. I was hoping I could share it with you.

Dere tooth farey

I Lost my thooth.

Can you find it?

and if you do can you give me mony

it is in my tummy I think?????

love,

(insert name here)

The Dentist

On the way to the dentist this morning, little son said, "Sister, did you know you were in my movie last night?"

To which middle daughter replied, "Do you mean I was in your dream?"

"Yep," he answered.

And so we made our way to the dentist where middle daughter had two of her lower teeth encapsulated in shiny silver. Such a reality check for the mom. What mom is proud of that? Not this one. And a resolution has been made: there will be way fewer sweets in this household from now on and more flossing.

On the drive home I giggled as I listened to her slurred speech. Her little bottom lip fat and lazy as she talked. And she spoke of how she didn't want to miss "pweskfool" (preschool) today. The closer we got to our home, the heavier her little eyelids became and soon she was fast asleep.

She awoke when we pulled into the garage and was awake long enough to climb up on the couch, wrap her cute little self in a comfy blanket and watch a couple minutes of t.v. before she drifted off to sleep once more.

And now, with her closed eyes, she is watching her own little personal movie. Perhaps she will repay little son and he will be in her movie.

Under the Pillow

What is the going rate for a tooth these days? I put in a call to the Tooth Fairy and she has not returned any messages. She must be pretty busy. Nevertheless a tooth has fallen and it must be redeemed. When it was loose, oldest daughter protected it like it was gold, so it must be worth a bunch.

This morning as we were reading scriptures and preparing for our day, the hanging tooth fell out. Finally. With very little provocation. Just as we kept telling oldest daughter it would if she would allow us to help it on its way.

Right now it is tucked securely under oldest daughter's pillow. She insists upon this.

You need to know that it took a little bit of work for that tooth to be the only item under oldest daughter's pillow.

For

"under the pillow"

is where the greatest treasures are kept.

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I don't know why. But this is how I found out: a few months ago I was changing oldest daughter's sheets. I lifted up her pillow and found beads and books. Ponies and pictures. Cards and a camera. I had to pause a moment to understand what all the trinkets were doing there. I couldn't wait to ask her about it. She told me that she keeps these things here to protect them because they are her favorite things.

And she sleeps with them there every night. So, this is how I know it was a chore to prepare the under the pillow space for the precious tooth. And when I returned from my meeting this evening, oldest daughter showed me the tooth. All alone under the pillow. And then she reassured me that all the other treasures had alternate accommodations for the evening. They are resting in the drawer of her night stand. A harder bed for sure, but one with no pressure from above. One thing is certain: I can imagine oldest daughter will have a more comfortable rest with only a tooth to contend with under the pillow.

Once when my older sister and her family spent the night at my house, she was to stay in the bedroom of oldest daughter. My sister questioned me about the trinkets under the pillow. We had forgotten to remove them before their stay. But my older sister, feeling un-adventurous and desirous for a good night's rest, was sensitive to the treasures of a six year old and found a suitable place for those treasures to pass the night. And they were returned to their under the pillow position as soon as she awoke.

When I was in the years of lost teeth, I never put my lost tooth (or anything for that matter) under the pillow. I just put it under a cup on the kitchen windowsill. That way I was sure it wouldn't get lost. (now having witnessed the special under the pillow spot, I know that it is impossible for things to get lost when placed under the pillow.) But, isn't it magic? That cute little fairy creeps in at night and exchanges money for your old tooth. The ones on the windowsill and the ones under the pillow.

So, I imagine the Tooth Fairy will quietly enter oldest daughter's room at any moment and claim that little front tooth. She will be grateful for the relocation of all the other toys, making the tooth the only treasure to be found under the pillow. And she will take that tooth and deposit a little reward.

And then, what does the Tooth Fairy do with those fallen teeth? Does she keep every tooth? Or does she just keep the first tooth a child loses? These are things that I wonder. Into the night.

And if I could,

I would take my little ones

and tuck them all under my pillow.

Because now I know

that's how you protect all your greatest treasures.

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