It was loose for several weeks. She, my Luna, was very excited and all this Mama could think about was that her baby #2's tooth was about to fall out and that would be the beginning of a new stage (whaaaa!-sniff-sniff). It may sound silly and all but when their adorable little baby teeth start moving out to make room for their 'grown-up' teeth, it's sad in a way. Not the kind of sad that induces melodramatic sobs, no, not those but just a little upturning of your mouth and a head tilt sad with a hint of joy. The gesture you'd make when something dear to you inevitably changes. To my surprise, she was extremely calm about the entire process. In the past Luna had shown anxiety and fear to her teeth falling out. But now, she knew that her tooth would have to come out and that she may or may not bleed and that there was also the chance of her swallowing her loose tooth from her night-time thumb sucking. Yes, she's five and a half and she sucks her thumb and I have zero qualms about it.
She was aware of it all and she seemed to accept it quite well. It's funny how there are subtle clues into how your child's demeanor can resemble ways that they came into this world. What I mean are the events that took place during their birth. Luna gestated for forty weeks and three days, she was in no hurry to enter the world and her labor was calm and gentle (4 hours total), just as she is. She delivered a sense of trust and inner wisdom through me that changed me forever. At age five now, she trusted that her first tooth would come out when it needed to, never forcing or speeding up the process. She owns this ability just as I owned it during her birth.
You could imagine how proud of her I was when the tooth inevitably came out. The five of us were sitting out in our outdoor patio playing a family game called Head Banz and she asked me to look and see how 'loose' it was. I then asked her if I could wriggle it and check and then voila, it popped right off!
Me: "Oh look Lulu, your tooth came out!"
Luna: "Ahhh, let me see, let me see!"
I was smiling so hard I almost made myself cry. I handed the tiny ivory tooth to her in her cupped little hand and she lit up like a little fire fly. She raced inside the house to search for the special little tooth fairy box I had bought her one year ago (the one she's holding up in the picture above). She knew exactly where I had tucked it away for her, among my bras and sexy lingerie. Don't ask me why there, I'm a Mom of three okay-sometimes you just gotta put things in the quickest possible place. She was giddy and wanted to get ready for bed. I thought, 'Geese, if this is the reaction for a fallen tooth, then I should pretend that the tooth fairy visits every night to check for brushed and flossed teeth too!' In any case, we prepared for bed but before she climbed up to her bunk, she made her Daddy print, from my Facebook page, the pic of her holding out her special tooth fairy box because according to her, she wanted to make sure the tooth fairy knew exactly where to find her. She taped the black and white printed picture to her bed facing the door. It was so cute and hilarious at that same time. After all the ruckus and excitement about the tooth, all three of them were asleep.
I was a teensy bit close to forgetting my night time 'tooth fairy' duty (like I did one of the time's our Sabrina had lost a tooth and we had to do a round two of fairy duty). This time I got all into and made the fairy's visit extra special with a hand written note and added glitter to her loot. It was so much fun!
When Luna woke up (at 6:45 a.m.), she came dashing into my room to show me what 'her' tooth fairy had left her.
Luna: "Mommy, look at what I got! I note from my tooth fairy and one dollar and two coins (that's what she calls quarters). She has such pretty handwriting."
Me: Still half asleep, "Wow Luna, that's amazing!" Even at that hour, I was in awe of her bewilderment about the note.
Luna: "And look Mommy, she left a picture of herself with this sticker. That's what she looks like, Mommy! That's her!"
It's incredible what a little make believe can do. Hope you enjoyed that story.
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