the tooth fairy

We've had quite a few visits from the Tooth Fairy around here lately. The teeth that have for months been teetering on the brink of falling from J's head finally did it -- first he lost a bottom tooth a week or two ago, suprising us all as his top ones were MUCH looser. Then one of the top front ones came out at breakfast one morning. And given that the one next to it (over which his adult tooth has been steadily growing in over the past month or two) was really only being held in at this point by the one that had fallen out, it was no suprise that it too fell out that same day.

At $1 a pop, the boy is getting rich quickly!

What happened to the bottom tooth was a big mystery -- all we know was that it was there when I brushed his teeth that morning, and was missing when The Map Man brushed them that evening. J suggested that it might be in the dining room, leading us to believe that it probably came out while he was eating dinner, so a grand hunt ensued to find the missing tooth. To no avail. We thought perhaps he was mistaken and it fell out elsewhere, but a quick scouring of the house didn't turn up anything. (Well, no teeth anyway, scouring the house always turns up a few surprises here and there!)

A very discouraged J headed to bed that night with no envelope to put under his pillow. The Map Man reassured him that the Tooth Fairy is pretty good at finding lost teeth, so he probably didn't have anything to worry about.

Sure enough, that Tooth Fairy worked her magic. In the morning J found a dollar under his pillow along with a very neatly printed note that read:

Dear J, I found your tooth in the dining room. Here is your dollar. I just love collecting teeth! I hear you have more loose teeth. I will be back to get them when they come out. From, The Tooth Fairy

Needless to say, J was thrilled that his inability to find the fallen tooth didn't affect the financial outcome, and he read the note to everyone he saw.

True to her word, the Tooth Fairy came back the night his other two fell out, and left him two dollars. He was pretty matter-of-fact about it, quickly wisking the dollars from under his pillow into his piggy bank.

A popular book around here lately has been Serina's First Flight: A Tooth Fairy's Tale, by Suanne Kelley Kopald. It has all the makings of a good fairy tale -- adventure, whimsy, a villainous sorceress, a group of stallwart helpers, a best friend, and, of course, fairies. A big thumbs up from the kids.

One more loose tooth to go this round (that other bottom tooth is loose). Of interesting note, his first two teeth (on the bottom) came out within a couple weeks of each other back in January of 2006. So it's been almost a year and a half between then and now. Not sure if that's "normal" or not, the dentist didn't seem too concerned. But it seems like he's "caught up" now in any case with this storm of falling teeth.