Cupie's Tooth Saga - Part 2

Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands! . . . Clap your hands and say, 'I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!'" ~ Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

After we finally got Cupie’s first tooth out (click here read that story first), we had to prepare for the tooth fairy. We got out her plastic tooth holder (it’s about half an inch high, looks like a tooth & has a cap that snaps on) and put the tooth in. She was having a grand time shaking the tooth holder and making a generally annoying noise with it.

We headed directly down the hall to get tucked into bed for the night. I got Ellie in her bed first, and then I went across the hall to Cupie’s room. I could see her chin quivering and as soon as she opened her mouth, the tears started flowing – she lost the tooth! She had the holder, but the tooth was gone. She swore up & down that she didn’t open the holder and it was still in the holder when she left my bedroom.

She was sitting on the bed so we stripped the bed – nothing. I needed to pull the trundle out, but first I had to clear some space on the floor. I shook each stuffed animal, blanket, rug, Barbie doll, slipper, book, & kitchen sink in the room before moving it out to the hall or the closet. With the trundle out, I lifted the mattress and each slat – still nothing.

I got out the cordless sweeper. At least it had a little dirt collector we could sift through. I swept up every loose carpet fiber and any other bits & pieces on her floor. Then I got a trash can and made her help me sift through the stuff. We found beads, stickers with no sticky, a Barbie shoe, and (super gross) a toe nail clipping. Still no tooth.

I’ll have to make my way backward – to the hall! We put the bed back together and brought in the stuff from the hall; shaking it all out again just in case. After sweeping the hall, we went through the sifting ritual again – no tooth.

I finally made my way back to my bedroom. After moving Rob’s pile of dirty clothes, several receipts he accumulated on his nightstand (the pocket emptying ritual), and a pair of shoes, I found the tooth wedged up against the foot of the nightstand. Hmmmm, didn’t she swear it was in the tooth holder when she left my room? Must be a magical tooth – it can disappear out of a closed box and appear somewhere far from the location of the disappearance. David Copperfield should include this tooth in his act. Maybe I’ll write him a letter. Better yet, I’ll find his e-mail and just send him a blog link – I’m sure he personally reads all his e-mail and opens every attachment and web link included in the e-mails. NOT!

Since the tooth disappeared once already, I now had a dilemma. Cupie’s bed is right up against the wall and there is a trundle under it. If the tooth rolls out from under her pillow behind her bed, there is no way I was going to be able to play Tooth Fairy without waking her up. My solution was to put the tooth under her pillow, but inside the pillowcase.

This really worried Cupie. What if the Tooth Fairy couldn’t find it? Apparently, that pesky pillowcase would be in the way when the Tooth Fairy slid her hand across the fitted sheet & under the pillow. There would be no tooth! Cupie wanted me to write a note for the Tooth Fairy telling her exactly where the tooth was. It had to be taped to her bedpost right by her pillow. That's just what I wanted to do – stick scotch tape on her wood bedpost.

I went all the way down to the kitchen to get out a pad of paper to write the note. This was an adventure. The little notebook I keep in the junk drawer had notes on almost all the pages. I had to flip through page by page (by this time it is past 9:00 and I had TV to watch!) until I found a blank sheet in the middle. I must have a tendency to start at the beginning or the end when grabbing it for notes. I don’t rip out the pages until they are used up on both sides – call me frugal, I don’t care.

Cupie’s note said:

DEAR TOOTH FAIRY,

MY TOOTH IS UNDER MY PILLOW, BUT IT IS INSIDE THE PILLOW CASE.

CUPIE

She signed it herself – I wrote the rest. We would have been there until 10:00 had I let her write the entire note. She was finally happy with the tooth situation and crawled into bed.

At about 1:00 I snuck into her room to put the golden dollar under her pillow and take the tooth to a super secret spot. Since the tooth was in the plastic holder, I had to take it out of her room to open it. I didn’t want her waking up to find me standing there with her tooth & money. That would be just great – ruin the magic on my first Tooth Fairy adventure. I snuck back in her room and left the plastic tooth holder & money under the pillow (in the pillowcase, of course).

When I got up in the morning, Hubby asked if I had taken the note. Doh! I had forgotten. Unless I wanted to put up the note every time she lost a tooth, I had to go get it. For the third time, I entered her room. I snatched the note and hoped I didn’t wake her up. This was supposed to be an in and out operation. Instead I had to risk my daughter’s happiness and my sanity three times.

Next time we won’t have the note issue. Cupie thinks the Tooth Fairy took it to put in her file for future reference. We’re going to have to do something about that tooth holder, though.


Silver lining: Cupie was so excited Tuesday morning. It sounded like a buffalo running down the hall. She turned the corner into our room with her hair flying and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face. That alone was worth all the hassle.

Cupie's Tooth Saga - Part 1

Do you believe in fairies? If you believe, clap your hands! . . . Clap your hands and say, 'I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!'" ~ Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Three weeks ago, we discovered Cupie had a loose tooth. It wiggled just a little bit, but it was definitely loose – not our over active adult imagination about getting to see your child’s next milestone.

An urgent plea went out to all I knew who had school age children. What’s the going rate????

Turns out, it’s a dollar. Some people do something special for the first tooth, but Cupie would have been disappointed when the next tooth came out and the Tooth Fairy didn’t perform as well. One of the responders said they had heard of $20 a tooth! What?? That’s a mouth worth 400 bucks. Their baby teeth are precious, but there is no way they are worth that much; especially when those first few teeth come out in quick succession.

Anyway, it took three more weeks so I guess I didn’t have to go into over-drive about the amount. She’s reached another milestone in this great game of life. For me, it is a double edged sword – I’m excited for her, but sad for me. Another piece of my baby is gone.

That’s enough sap – on to the funny stuff!

So on Saturday, Cupie says she really wants her tooth to come out. I told her that she needed to have patience and it would eventually come out. But she started whining about how it was bothering her so I steered her toward the bathroom. I didn’t want her bleeding all over the carpet (as if tooth paste wasn’t bad enough – blood would really leave a mark). I told her to start wiggling the tooth hard, but she was being a total wuss about it.

“Do you want me to try?” I asked her. She nodded her head and I tried to get a grip on it to pull and/or twist. That got a yelp and tears, but there was blood so I accomplished something. What kind of mother am I? I made my child bleed – yay!

After she calmed down a bit, I asked her if she wanted me to try again. She really wanted that tooth out so she agreed. The tooth is too small to get a finger grip on so I had to consider my options.

I’ve heard in the olden days, they tied a string around the tooth, attached the other end to a door, and slammed the door to get the tooth to pop out quickly. There are three things that prevented me from choosing this option. (1) I’m sure Cupie wouldn’t go for a string in her mouth nor do I think she would sit still long enough for me to tie it on. (2) Say I'm wrong about #1 and the tooth comes flying out and gets lost. (3) Again, say I'm wrong about #1 and it wouldn’t work and she’d hate me for the pain I inflicted.

Next option, get the needle nose pliers to get a better grip on the tooth. This was dismissed – you ever accidentally get the metal from a tool in your mouth? It’s bitter! Besides, if it didn’t work, I’d probably damage the enamel and with my luck, the tooth wouldn’t fall out until it rotted out.

I decided to go with just a good pull. I hooked my index finger over the tooth and quickly contracted my finger while pulling with my arm. I heard something pull loose, but didn’t come all the way out. I got a full blown scream and a ton of tears. She wouldn’t let me anywhere near her mouth after that.

She eventually calmed down because she had a new game to play – let’s push my tooth out with my tongue, then pull it back in! The things that delight a five-year-old (insert your own eye roll here).

This little game went on until Monday when she was playing with her tooth and it just fell out.


Finally! That saga is over.

Now, we had to prepare for the tooth fairy. . .

TO BE CONTINUED



Silver Lining:

1. Her teacher at pre-school was kind enough to put the tooth in a sealed envelope instead of letting Cupie hold on to it.


2. I had, had three weeks to prepare for the Tooth Fairy so I was ready - or so I thought