My little girl is growing up! WAAAAILLLLL!
Last night, at supper time, Kiera announced that her tooth was wobbly. Sure enough, there was a little backward-forward give there, but nothing substantial. But, some sibling shenanigans fast-tracked the tooth loss process … I marched into their room last night, armed with the wooden spoon, ready to instil the appropriate punishment for disobeying the Mommy Command to “keep quiet and go to sleep!” I started with: “What is going on here?!” but that soon dissolved into: “oh my goodness!!!” Kiera was grinning at me like the Cheshire Cat – minus a bottom tooth.
Turns out that she had been chewing on Katie’s blanket (don’t ask) and Katie had indignantly snatched it back – ripping the once slightly wobbly tooth right out of her mouth! Much laughter and exclamation followed this event, reaching my ears and causing me to march in there, via the cutlery drawer for the aforementioned wooden spoon. But, the excitement of the moment expelled any thought of punishment for disobedience – after all, who really could keep quiet during such a momentous occasion?
So out of bed they hopped … pictures were taken; the liberated tooth examined; the tale was regaled again and again and a discussion about what to do with the tooth ensued. Finally I got two very excited little girls, convinced they’d never sleep again for the rest of their lives, back into bed.
After all this excitement I was left with a bit of a dilemma. What was I going to do about this tooth? Her friends have given her the lowdown on the tooth mouse/fairy, so she put the tooth in her slipper, with the warning from me that she may not get anything because we were in Hermanus and not at home – perhaps the tooth mouse/fairy/tooth would not know where to go (read: Parent is Stalling). Then I called Craig, who is back home in Cape Town. “Honey, what is our policy on the tooth fairy/mouse/person?” Craig gave me the go-ahead and agreed upon amount … and then Kerry entered into the process….
As a child, her parents, Rog and Leslie Palmer, made up all sorts of tooth-creatures who would come in lieu of the tooth mouse or fairy. Each time the character would write an elaborate letter to her about their journey to get her tooth and each time a photo of the replacement character would grace the letter. We decided to have some fun with this same idea and so typed up an elaborate story of our own ….
which reads …
Dear Kiera-Lee
I was so surprised to hear of your quick loss of tooth. As you may not know, the minute a child’s tooth becomes wobbly, we at the Teeth Collection Depot (TCD) are immediately notified. We, however, did not expect your tooth to come out so quickly, so we were not quite prepared for the alarm signaling the loss of Kiera-Lee Gayelle Hayes’s very first tooth! We expected it to take days – not realizing that your sister Katie would so kindly assist in speeding up the tooth loss process. To think that all it took was a tug of a blanket in your mouth! We were so surprised and will definitely write that one down in our “What to Expect in Tooth Loss” manual.
As you may already know, there are a team of us at the TCD who work together to collect teeth. The tooth fairy was busy getting her nails done when our Kiera alarm sounded and unfortunately the tooth mouse is on a job in Israel (I believe you know the Glik family – they’re often losing teeth, so the tooth mouse has his job cut out for him over there). It seems that the Hermanus Tooth Dassie was the closest agent of the TCD to undertake the important task of collecting your very first tooth. You may remember meeting the Hermanus Tooth Dassie’s cousin a while ago in Onrus when you, Jesse and Katie were walking to the beach.
I’m sure you are wondering what it is that we do with the teeth that we collect. Well, that is a story for the loss of tooth number 2!
Yours truly,
Sergeant Squirrel, Chief Tooth Collection Agent
The letter and R5 coin was snuck into her slipper and early (earlier than I was planning to be awake) the next morning … my bedroom door burst open and I was fanned awake by a waving page and my 6-year old exclaiming, “Look what I got in my slipper mommy! Read it to me, please!!!” So I did … Micah, Kiera, Katie and I snuggled together to read the mysterious letter from the Hermanus Tooth Dassie. Kiera was beside herself with excitement – and I was overcome with sentimental giggles as I heard her lisp through her words – such as “toof fairwee”. We swapped ideas about what they could possibly do with the teeth … she talked about how the Dassie came into her room … she began to plan a letter back to the Dassie and worked out a delivery system (in her slipper with her next lost tooth) …and then she sped off to show her letter to Granny, Uncle Craig and her cousins, who were the only ones up at that stage.
Later that day, during rest time, Kiera wrote her Dear Dassie letter…
And she carried her R5 coin with her wherever we went – even to the Mugg and Bean where we went for lunch – and lost it later on in the Whale festival tent. Oh the tears! Thankfully grandpa came to the rescue and “found” it in the car.
Now – if you are reading this and you are likely to see her in the next week or so, pleeeez don’t let on that you know! Act surprised when she wordlessly grins her Chesire Cat grin at you! And give me a hug – I’ll need all the support I can get on this journey called, “my little girl is growing up”
Now that is a fantastic idea: To write a story for each tooth. I may need to implement that.
Thanks for sharing.
~Luke
I remember feeling the same when Abigail lost her first tooth. It’s happy, sad and exciting all at the sme time!(actually it’s almost the same as when they GET their first tooth!)
To date she’s only lost 2 but we have 1 that is a tiny bit wiggly, so we’re expecting a visit from the tooth fairy here at the Hutton’s sometime soon, I just hope she’s finished having her nails done by then!
What a superb idea! What fun!!!
Hi Taryn
Tell me more about that cosy sling you have there. My 12 week old baby boy would probably love that. Is it the same African one that you were using for Sam?
PS you are doing a great job Taryn. Your posts make me feel normal in the bad days and a good sense of comraderie for the good ones. Keep it up.
Love Leigh
Hi Leigh – the sling in the ice-cream photo is fantastic as they can be lying down or upright in it. I use it for my newborns – 3 months, especially when we’re out and they need to be sleeping. Plus, it’s great for those really niggly days when they just want to be held and you need both your hands to cook etc. My mom’s dear friend makes them and there is a video we made for it with instructions on how to use it. I will email you her details so you can give her a call and find out if she has any available at the moment. Hope that helps! Thanks for your encouragement too – isn’t it great to be able to find encouragement even in cyberspace?! And congrats on your little 12-weeker! What’s his name?
Now, now, Taryn, dear…you almost had me in tears!!! That is SUCH a delightful story and I love the way you write. You have a real gift. The little dassie letter is so precious…stamped and all.
Love Nix
Too precious Taryn, what a lovely story…..
This is just wonderful! Now I have to figure out how I can pull this off even though my oldest is seven and has already lost two teeth.