Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Tooth Fairy


Today we were greeted at the door by our sweet little girlies. What a great way to return from a night away! They were both so excited to see us! Madison was jumping up and down holding a bloody paper towel and a cup!!! Inside was a tooth! She had lost her 6th one!


She was thrilled that she would hold the title for the first tooth lost in the month of December in her class.... a big deal for a 1s grader! She also immediately was asking where the tooth fairy pillow was so that she could get it all ready!


I told her that I would look for it in a few minutes and asked her to put the cup with the tooth on the kitchen counter. A few hours passed and I cleaned the kitchen and of course you know how this part of the story goes... I totally forgot that the paper cup on the counter was holding a precious possession and apparently washed it down the sink. Madison was extremely calm about it all and assured me that a note to the tooth fairy in the pillow would be fine. Remember this is the same girl whose mom knocked her tooth out in the middle of the night at the hospital last summer and then had an xray that proved the tooth was indeed in the belly....she has experience with teeth mishaps and her and the tooth fairy seem to be in good standings on minor complications with mothers who knock out and trow away teeth!


A few months back when Madison lost a tooth Olivia expressed great concern about her fear of the tooth fairy. Her exact words were "that tooth fairy freaks me out"! We seemed to have worked through it and she calmed down after I reassured her that all was fine!


Today I was paying close attention to see if amongst all the tooth fairy talk the fear of the freaky tooth fairy would be brought up by Miss O. It never came up so I believed that maybe it was a thing of the past.


At nine o'clock after a few hours of playing games by the fire and having a great night with the family we headed upstairs...Maddie bounced into bed so excited to fall asleep... I went and got the tooth pillow, some paper and a pen and sat on her bed and wrote the note...


" Dear Tooth Fairy,

Madison lost another tooth today! It was a big one! We had it in a cup getting it all clean for you and I accidentally threw it away while cleaning the kitchen. Please leave Madison her surprise as this is my fault. You can look in her mouth and see that she indeed has lost another tooth! Thank you so much for your understanding. Sincerely, Nikki Smith ( Madison's Mom)"


As I wrote the letter Madison was looking over my shoulder reading it out loud. I noticed that the more I wrote the tighter Olivia held on to my arm. When we were done we folded up the letter and placed it in the pillow pocket. Madison snuggled in and was ready to go to sleep. It was then that I realized Olivia's little body was trembling. I walked her to her bed and she grabbed on to me and said "please don't make me sleep in here!" Madison told her that she could sleep in her bed with her but I knew that was never gonna fly... that would put her IN THE BED that that the freaky tooth fairy was looking for.


As I sat and tried to calm Olivia down she would ask her sister questions...."Madison, do you feel it when she lifts your pillow?". "Can you feel it when she walks around on your bed?" "What if you open your eyes when she is on your bed...is it freaky?"


After a few minutes she looked at me and said " mom, please let me sleep in your bed". I agreed and felt horrible that she was so scared. I tucked her in our bed but could see that she was still so afraid. I did not feel I could leave her like that so I crawled in bed next to her. I snuggled her up and said that I would lay there with her. I could instantly feel her body relax.... Just as I would think she was asleep a sweet hardly audible voice would ask yet another question.... "mom, how small is she.. is she like this big?" her little fingers would give me the size that she was referring to. I told her she was tiny like Tinkerbell.... "How does she get in our house?"


A few minutes later... "Are you sure it is a girl or is it maybe a boy?". A few more minutes and then my favorite question.. "Do you think she will try to fly up my nose?" - "Can you get out of bed and close your door so that she does not come in here?"


As she was almost asleep she quietly said... "When I lose a tooth I do not want any money. I do not want her to come here anymore" I told her that since the tooth fairy is just looking for the tooth pillow that we could certainly hang it on the front door that way she would never have to come in the house. She nodded her head and agreed with that idea. I ran my fingers through her hair a few more times sure that she was just about asleep.... As I started to get out of bed she said in the same small sleepy voice -" Mom, I don't believe you that she is tiny." I crawled right next her and asked why she would say that. Without opening her eyes she said "Because that note that you wrote her was way to big for her to read if she really is as small as Tinkerbell!". I had to hold back laughter. I assured her that she was safe and that I would be with her.... she never said another word and she drifted off to sleep.


Dear Lord what is a mother to do.... leave the 4 year old trembling thinking about the Freaky Tooth Fairy...probably resulting in needing therapy as an adult OR destroy the dreams of a 7 year old who right now is sleeping, fully expecting a trail of fairy dust from the window to her bed that the tooth fairy left just for her... along with a few dollars.


Speaking of a few dollars.. I gotta run. Not sure I have any cash.


Oh the joys of parenting!!! Never a dull moment!



6 comments:

miriam said...

oh my!!.. that is a dilema.. maybe when the tooth fairy leaves soemthing for Maddie.. she should leave somethign for olivia beacause the tooth fairy sawa what a brave good girls she was...what kind of dust does the tooth fairy leave behind?.. good idea about putting it on the front door so she does ntoneed to come inside! let us know how it all went.

miriam said...

oh gee.. if only i spell checked more often.. i would not look like such a loozer :0)!

Brittany said...

That is so funny! A few dollars???? Can I come to your house? My tooth fairy only left a quarter.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, that is such a funny story! I am glad you have it written down for their enjoyment later on!! Great memories.

The Lawver's said...

This made me laugh so hard. Looking forward to seeing those cuties soon! And you of course. Love ya :)

Anonymous said...

I was laughing so hard when I was reading the part where she comments about her size and the letter, Bill asked what was so funny. I read him the story and he was laughing too. So priceless, love it!

Wendy