And the Tooth Faerie nearly dies a quick death...
I don't know how my mom did it. I mean, she managed to raise me without killing any of my childhood heros.
Two days ago Lina lost her second tooth. She was mighty pleased as this one had been loose for a long time. So she dutifully put it under her pillow. But not before making a really big deal about first putting it into an empty jewellery box and then putting that into an envelope marked "For the Tooth Fairy". This being Monday after a race weekend we all went to bed pretty early. I lay down in my bed to read a little, having already placed two loonies ($2) on the edge of my night table. I thought I'd read a bit just to make sure she was asleep and then I'd sneak into Lina's room to do the tooth faerie thing. But wouldn't you know it? I fell asleep about 5 times while trying to get into a new book and finally turned out the light and drifted off.
The next morning Hubby let the cat in and I picked him up and put him in Lina's bed. Fester, our Siamese cat (I'll save the story behind his name for another day), is extremely vocal. It only took seconds for him to snuggle in with Lina and I left thinking she'd be awake and ready for breakfast shortly.
It was while folding laundry downstairs that I noticed the change sitting on the shelf above the washer that I suddenly thought CRAP!!! panicked and rushed upstairs, snatched the money off my night table and walked into Lina's room. There she was sitting in the middle of her bed, open jewellery box in her hands, discarded envelope sitting in her lap and tears streaming down her face. "She didn't come" she whispered while convulsing silently. Trying to hide the disgust I felt with myself, I went in for a consoling hug while slipping my hand under her pillow and depositing the $2. I asked her - "Did you look everywhere? I'm sure that she was here Lina." It took a bit of convincing but Lina looked under her pillow and found the money. She stopped crying and started to look thoughtful. Here it comes, I thought. In one fell swoop I've just killed the tooth faerie.
Then miraculously, she looks at me and says, "Maybe she's too small to open the jewellery box", followed by "Maybe she got scared away at the last minute?" I added a few more possibilities to her list and then left her room before I got down on my knees and confessed.
She told me on the way to day camp that she had figured out that the tooth faerie was looking for her tooth in her frog purse which is what she had used to put her last tooth under her pillow. "It has to be that Mom! Because when I looked for my purse this morning it wasn't where I had left it, it was laying on the floor opened." (I could have told her that it looks like a bomb exploded in her room and nothing was where it actually should be, but it helped my cause so I shut up) "I think she looked in there and couldn't find it. Tonight I am going to put my frog purse under my pillow; she'll be able to open that won't she?" Yep, I said, Good idea Lina.
Before I went to sleep last night I went into my craft room, found some pink paper and wrote in tiny letters "thanks" and took the tooth, placed the note into the purse and put it back under Lina's sleeping head.
This morning, when Hubby woke Lina up and she hopped into my room, bounced into my bed and showed me the little note. "That's pretty special that she wrote me the note Mom. I don't think she does that for anyone else. I'm pretty lucky eh? I think I'll take it with me to day camp and show everyone." The world was set a-right once again.
She's probably the only kid I know who gets personal letters from Santa, the Easter Bunny and now the Tooth Faerie.
And critics wonder why there is a trend amongst parents to have lavish birth day parties for our kids, spending hundreds of dollars, hosting theme parties and such. Don't they get it? It's to thank our kids for letting us off easy. It's guilt man! It's guilt. It's how we make ourselves feel better after almost screwing up our kid's belief in the stupid tooth faerie. Man, this birthday is going to be a doozie.
Two days ago Lina lost her second tooth. She was mighty pleased as this one had been loose for a long time. So she dutifully put it under her pillow. But not before making a really big deal about first putting it into an empty jewellery box and then putting that into an envelope marked "For the Tooth Fairy". This being Monday after a race weekend we all went to bed pretty early. I lay down in my bed to read a little, having already placed two loonies ($2) on the edge of my night table. I thought I'd read a bit just to make sure she was asleep and then I'd sneak into Lina's room to do the tooth faerie thing. But wouldn't you know it? I fell asleep about 5 times while trying to get into a new book and finally turned out the light and drifted off.
The next morning Hubby let the cat in and I picked him up and put him in Lina's bed. Fester, our Siamese cat (I'll save the story behind his name for another day), is extremely vocal. It only took seconds for him to snuggle in with Lina and I left thinking she'd be awake and ready for breakfast shortly.
It was while folding laundry downstairs that I noticed the change sitting on the shelf above the washer that I suddenly thought CRAP!!! panicked and rushed upstairs, snatched the money off my night table and walked into Lina's room. There she was sitting in the middle of her bed, open jewellery box in her hands, discarded envelope sitting in her lap and tears streaming down her face. "She didn't come" she whispered while convulsing silently. Trying to hide the disgust I felt with myself, I went in for a consoling hug while slipping my hand under her pillow and depositing the $2. I asked her - "Did you look everywhere? I'm sure that she was here Lina." It took a bit of convincing but Lina looked under her pillow and found the money. She stopped crying and started to look thoughtful. Here it comes, I thought. In one fell swoop I've just killed the tooth faerie.
Then miraculously, she looks at me and says, "Maybe she's too small to open the jewellery box", followed by "Maybe she got scared away at the last minute?" I added a few more possibilities to her list and then left her room before I got down on my knees and confessed.
She told me on the way to day camp that she had figured out that the tooth faerie was looking for her tooth in her frog purse which is what she had used to put her last tooth under her pillow. "It has to be that Mom! Because when I looked for my purse this morning it wasn't where I had left it, it was laying on the floor opened." (I could have told her that it looks like a bomb exploded in her room and nothing was where it actually should be, but it helped my cause so I shut up) "I think she looked in there and couldn't find it. Tonight I am going to put my frog purse under my pillow; she'll be able to open that won't she?" Yep, I said, Good idea Lina.
Before I went to sleep last night I went into my craft room, found some pink paper and wrote in tiny letters "thanks" and took the tooth, placed the note into the purse and put it back under Lina's sleeping head.
This morning, when Hubby woke Lina up and she hopped into my room, bounced into my bed and showed me the little note. "That's pretty special that she wrote me the note Mom. I don't think she does that for anyone else. I'm pretty lucky eh? I think I'll take it with me to day camp and show everyone." The world was set a-right once again.
She's probably the only kid I know who gets personal letters from Santa, the Easter Bunny and now the Tooth Faerie.
And critics wonder why there is a trend amongst parents to have lavish birth day parties for our kids, spending hundreds of dollars, hosting theme parties and such. Don't they get it? It's to thank our kids for letting us off easy. It's guilt man! It's guilt. It's how we make ourselves feel better after almost screwing up our kid's belief in the stupid tooth faerie. Man, this birthday is going to be a doozie.
posted by ria at Wednesday, August 24, 2005
2 Comments:
Most parents will identify with this at some point! I've forgotten the T.F. with each one of my 4 kids at one time or another. Heartbreaking, but also a little life-lesson on dealing with disappointment on both sides. It's so good that you were able to talk things out and make the best of that situation. Now that my kids are older, we can laugh about these things--don't worry she really won't suffer emotional damage...which is our greatest fear I think...what we do to them without meaning to.
My parents had a great tooth fairy approach. Instead of it being under our pillow, we'd leave it in a glass of water on the bathroom sick. The next morning the tooth was gone and the shiny coins were in the glass of water. Easy for them, made sense to me as a kid, that you'd leave it on the bathroom sink, since that's where the brushing and flossing took place...
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