Toothfairy Redux

Apparently, during Day 1 of "Daddy Camp" (JR's dad decided that rather than send JR to yet another week of camp, we'd save some money and he'd take vacation days and hang out with JR), JR had a playdate with one of his best buddies, HK. I'm not sure how this happened, but during the playdate, JR and HK went exploring in Mom's jewelry box (definitely off limits when Mom is home). In the jewelry box, they found the ring box for my engagement ring, where I had, in a moment of "what am I going to do with this? I just can't throw it away", hidden one of JR's teeth after a visit from the tooth fairy.

What amazed me was that the discovery did not shake JR's solid faith in the tooth fairy. Rather, he has chosen to believe that for some reason, we "forgot" to put it under his pillow when it originally fell out. He doesn't seem to be concerned about how the tooth got into Mom's ring box. He just wanted to make sure that we put it under his pillow last night. Of course, we did.

So, my inability to find a safe hiding place (and Daddy's decision that it's okay to explore Mom's jewelry box when Mom's not home) means that the toothfairy once again paid a visit to our house - paying again for an old lost tooth.

My little mercenary.

Toothfairy Redux

The first time JR lost a tooth, we were completely taken aback. He was not yet 5, so we were convinced that some trauma had knocked out his tooth and we whisked him off to a dentist next morning.

A few weeks later, a new, grown-up tooth started to appear in the place of the hole, so I came to terms with the idea that, yes, in fact, he is old enough to lose his baby teeth.

Nevertheless, when the second tooth, which had been wiggling for days, popped out of his mouth on the way home from the pool, and I had this little, tiny baby tooth in the palm of my hand, the tears started flowing.

My baby is losing his teeth.

JR's dad thinks I've lost my marbles, in addition to losing JR's teeth.

Toothfairy Alert

Last night, sitting in a local park enjoying water ice, JR came over and handed me a bloody biscotti (purchased to accompany his dad's coffee) and said "Mommy, my mouth hurts." Peering into his little bloody mouth, we saw that there was no longer a tooth in his bottom front. We searched near where he'd been sitting, but could find nothing. Tears were flowing. Luckily, his friend's big sister had the presence of mind to tell JR that it didn't matter if he couldn't find the tooth; all he had to do was write a note and tell her he'd lost it.

So last night we carefully placed the note under his pillow: "Dear Toothfairy, I lost my tooth. Maybe you can find it near the bench in the park."

By 5:00 a.m. this morning, the tears had dried and the gap-toothed smile was wide with the discovery of the toothfairy's payment in trade for the missing tooth.