The Tooth Fairy Needs A Secretary

Yes, I know the term "secretary" is hopelessly antiquated. But the Tooth Fairy is a mythological creature. Ergo, she is allowed to call her help whatever she wishes.

Natalie lost another tooth yesterday. That's the fourth one she's lost in the last eight weeks. She's fast on her way to gumming all her food, like an elderly person eating dinner at Old Country Buffet at 4:30 PM.

(We tease her that she's going to be forced to eat nothing but mashed bananas the rest of the winter, but that's only because she loathes all things banana. The love is strong in this household.)

Want to see her hillbilly smile? It's adorable.





















Unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy -- doubtlessly exhausted from nursing a newborn the repeated trips to our house the last few months -- didn't retrieve the tooth from under Natalie's pillow last night. Which means there was no small amount of pouting, crying and deep sighing this morning when we all got up.

I tried to comfort her with the thought that the Tooth Fairy is hardly ever derelict in her duties. After all, she even managed to get the tooth that fell out the night before Mom and Dad left for the hospital to have Teyla.

(Barely. Corey and I were already in bed, half-asleep, when I bolted upright and whispered sharply, "Oh! No!" Corey later told me this is the wrong thing to say to your husband in the middle of the night when you are already four centimeters dilated.)

But that did little to soothe the disappointed spirit of a six-year-old with no teeth and not enough quarters to show for it.

Hopefully, the Tooth Fairy will do better tonight. Does anyone want to volunteer to make a reminder call? Those fairies can be so undependable once the lights go out.

13 comments:

  1. FIRST.

    Just kidding... I'm not that big of a dork. This is Jon... well, if Natalie plays hockey next year she won't need a mouth guard.

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  2. Hello?! Like, what have you been doing, Mrs. Toothfairy?

    I say march upstairs now and put your toothbrush (or better yet, Corey's!) under your (or his) pillow as a sure reminder for when you crawl in bed.

    That picture is downright irresistable. Does it bring you back to her newborn, toothless grin days? I love those smiles.

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  3. Well, when the tooth fairy missed a night in our house, she had to pay up BIG time to properly express her remorse. So if money talks in your house like it does here, they very quickly begin to hope the tooth fairy forgets again:-)

    (But just in case, I love the idea of leaving your tooth brush under your pillow as a reminder!)

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  4. Yes, we always say, "Whoops! We locked the door by mistake. She probably tried but couldn't get in." Or something of that nature.

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  5. Hi. I haven't commented here in awhile, so first I wanted to congratulate you on the birth of your new daughter. She is so beautiful! Makes me want another squishy, fuzzy-headed baby of my own to hold. They grow up way too fast!
    Anyway, the reason for my comment...my mom used to do this when I was young and it worked with my daughter a couple of weeks ago when the tooth fairy failed to show up at our house. I simply asked "are you sure she didn't leave the money, maybe you missed it?" (as I grabbed the quarters and hid them in my hand) "No mommy, my tooth is still here!"
    "Well, sometimes she has enough teeth, so she leaves this one for you as a keepsake. Let me help you look." (moving her covers and pillow around and reaching down beside the bed) "Look, here it is! You must have been a crazy sleeper last night, so it didn't stay under your pillow!"
    Worked like a charm and dried up those tears! But since this can't happen everytime I'm definitely going to remember the toothbrush trick, too!
    ~Kristin
    ~Kristin

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  6. I have no helpful advice...I am not a worthy ambassador of the Tooth Fairy.
    But I can tell you what NOT to do...under no circumstances do your best toothfairy handwriting impersonation full of squiggles and swirls and leave an apology note saying that you couldn't make it the night before for whatever reason.
    Because then you will get a note back asking for a picture, and all kinds of questions that you are not prepared to answer. And all that squiggly and swirly letter writing can make your hand hurt.

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  7. The good news is you're not alone.

    http://kisshugsqueeze.blogspot.com/2007/08/job-opening.html

    And I didn't have an excuse nearly as good as yours!!

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  8. LOVE the toothless pic! I think only two of my boys had both teeth missing like that; too cute!

    I have to confess the Tooth Fairy has often been delinquent here as well. One time, and not the first time, the tooth was still in the "tooth pillow," a pillow with a pocket in the side my mom made, and the tooth fairy snuck upstairs while the child was eating breakfast and proceeded to leave the cash; and left me to try to convince my son he had not checked thoroughly enough.

    He didn't buy it.

    Oh yeah, and one time the tooth fairy got caught because she had forgotten until that morning and thought she could sneak in without awakening the tooth owner. No such luck.

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  9. That darn Tooth Fairy! She's stiffed us all! :-)

    Natalie is too cute! My first grade picture looks almost exactly like that.

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  10. So darling!

    When this toothfairy forgot, I conveniently put it with her toothbrush while she ate breakfast and said "How clever of the tooth fairy to leave it here to remind you to brush your teeth!"

    Even after they knew the secret, of course they still wanted the tooth fairy to come for all their baby teeth. Unfortunately, especially with boys, baby teeth can take a LONG time to come out. When the tooth fairy starts going to bed before the child, they've definitely outgrown it!!

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  11. Great pic! She's adorable.

    I, too, have been sadly derelict in my duties as tooth fairy. In France, it was le petit souris, the little mouse, that took the teeth. After we had Ilsa in tears when we forgot not one night but TWO, we had her write a letter to the mouse reminding him. The letter was very funny and precious too, and I think I saved it (3 int'l moves since then). You could try this.
    Good luck! We didn't even have a newborn as an excuse!

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  12. I don't have any experience with an undependable tooth fairy, but how about a Santa Claus that so needs an assistant. My Santa Claus growing up really needed an assistant and as I grew older and "knew" what was going on, I have had to jump in bed with my younger siblings and keep them "occupied" while Santa frantically put stuff out. Fun stuff, huh? My D-Man is only 2, so I can only imagine what things will be like for me in a few years!

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  13. that's a great picture.

    our house is in such a rural location that the toothfairy often gets lost and never quite makes it here.

    bah, what am i saying. i'm too lazy to play the tooth fairy. i did it twice i think but then my nosy daughter asked if there really was a tooth fairy and i said no and that was the end of it. not like santa claus who keeps on giving whether you believe or not.

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