Yesterday when I got home from work all three boys were playing basketball in the driveway. It made my heart full of joy because they were playing together and seemed to be having fun (lately Eldest tends to pick on Middle and Middle tends to pick on Youngest).
Youngest son runs over to my window and opens his mouth to show me that a lower, front molar has fallen out and in its place I see the top of a new molar coming in. It seems it has been a while since anyone in our house lost a tooth. I remember one week four years ago when all three were losing teeth and the Tooth Fairy was scrounging around for dollar bills.
I got a kick out of Youngest telling me yesterday that he may have to leave a note for the Tooth Fairy because he left his tooth at school. He was with another teacher’s kid in a different classroom after school, chewing a Starburst candy when it happened—he felt a gap in his mouth and took out the somewhat chewed Starburst and his tooth was stuck in it. I told him it would have been pretty cool to put the tooth along with the Starburst in a baggie.
I forgot to remind him last night to leave a note….and I got another kick out of parenthood when this morning when I woke him up he reached under his pillow (nothing under it) and said, “Oh yeah, I need to find my tooth at school this morning and then bring it home.” Well, he knows what is up with parents and the Tooth Fairy (he’s age 10), but what kid doesn’t love money and this kid is sweet to indulge his mom in the tooth-losing-parent-ritual-process. We have found middle son in the closet on the phone near midnight a few times recently talking to a girl, and Oldest doing other teenage things recently so I was quite ecstatic to ooh and ahh over Youngest’s missing tooth and Tooth Fairy ceremonial.
However, this afternoon I will be getting on a plane and will spend the night somewhere else tonight so Hubs needs to wear the male-version of the Tooth Fairy role tonight. I left two dollar bills on his side of the bed and will remind him on the phone about three times tonight (regular teeth always earn $1 in our house but molars fetch $2). Off topic—why is it that when I go out of town and want to vegetate in a hotel bed and watch TV with my very own remote control that he suddenly has to talk on the phone with me for an hour (I am prepared with my phone charger today).
Before I leave to head to the airport in search of a security line that does not have a body scanner (easy to do in Atlanta; other states not so much) I’d like to mention a PSA on multiple offspring and losing teeth. If you are saving teeth, label envelopes or put post-it notes in baggies with ages and whose tooth it is. Or maybe I am the only one who didn’t think about setting up a filing system for teeth?? On my cupboard-cleaning kick last month I opened a bathroom drawer and found about 20 zip lock baggies with one tooth in each baggie and only a few notes as to the date and whose tooth it was! I moaned and groaned over this but then realized that the boys won’t care. Youngest has his “eyeteeth” and a few more molars left to lose so maybe I’ll start a more organized method of tooth identification. And to be honest I threw a few out since they had some blood and looked gross. One can’t be sentimental over everything….. did I mention that one of the boys has now reached my height.....
8 comments:
Our tooth fairy is such a failure lately. But, one more kid will be losing teeth soon, so the fairy better get with it.
When asked for parenting advice I always give this: When a tooth falls out and the tooth fairy must make a call that night, immediately put your own toothbrush in a different place in the bathroom so that when you go to brush your teeth before bed, you will remember.
That's my best advice. Seriously.
The tooth fairy at our house often forgot. Always told my kids they must have patience - fairies are busy people.
I don't think I ever kept their teeth. Not sure if they kept their own. Then again, I don't really know what all is in their dresser drawers.
Ooo, I like Ms. Moon's suggestion. All this talk about teenage boys and talking to girls in the phone is freaking me out! Luckily, Jude still has quite a few teeth to go.
Good tip, Ms.Moon. I don't think I ever forgot but maybe once and in the a.m. after the son got up, I put the $$ on the top edge of the bed and made a show of how the son must have knocked it down and it slid down the bed during the night.
Last night I was out of town and I think I annoyed Hubs because I told him 3 times to not forget.
My feeling of joy was mostly over this ritual for Youngest and a very, very nice diversion after dealing these past few weeks with teenage angst stuff.
--Michele R
So Sweet! Yup my oldest has lost all her teeth so she is officially down with the tooth fairy. My son (9) has only last a couple of teeth (kind of weird), but when we went to the Dentist two weeks ago they said he had abotu 6 loose ones (again weird that he eats with a mouth full of loose teeth) and my baby also has two loose teeth. I need to start a tooth fairy fund.
I think your little guy is great for humoring his mom!
We are supposed to keep the teeth? But what do you do with them?
I've been reading tooth fairy stories on blogs for a while now. All of them had a funny kick to it. Oh, I've heard of a story with one leaving a note instead of leaving the tooth under a pillow. There's another one about a kid getting 5 dollars for one tooth. Anyway, this has got to be one of the memorable moments of a parent's life, isn't it? Your child losing a tooth. A lot of moms (and dads, too) blog about it these days. I hope that your kids' teeth are in good shape! More power, Michele!
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