Confessions of a Tooth Fairy Mom and the happenings of spring (two days into it)

First, I must thank Celeste for the title :).

As Bryan said, we have been busy, but what else is new? I think that is a state of being with children. We just both looked at the blog and went, "Oops - it's been a month." March has FLOWN by, it seems.

So, back to the title... Jack lost a tooth a couple weeks ago. He put it under his pillow. I worked the weekend, and Bryan had play rehearsal (sorry, Shirley, it is "practice" in my head). Anyway, my mom was watching the kids, and I got a call at work. It was Jack, almost in tears, "Mommy, the tooth fairy forgot my tooth" (me: "OH NO!!!!") "she didn't even leave me a penny!" I asked him how much she had left him before. He said a couple dollars. So I asked the next logical question, "Why is this tooth only worth a penny?" He said it wasn't. He just thought she would AT LEAST leave him a penny, and she forgot his tooth! So, the mommy excuses kicked in, and I did my best to give them without out and out lying. This is where that fine line is, right? The one between lying and preserving the innocence of childhood - Santa, the Tooth Fairy. Believing in them is so fleeting, and the fun of believing in that "magic" is so quickly lost that it only seems fair to keep it going as long as possible. Especially because we had "the talk" last Christmas with Jack. Mr. Logical decided it wasn't possible that Santa actually existed. He decided he believed that St. Nicholas existed once upon a time, and that he was a good man and that now we carry on his tradition and memory. The talk included discussion on keeping it going for his sisters and friends, etc. By Christmas Eve though, I think he wanted to believe. He LOVED NORAD, but I digress... Back to the tooth fairy. So I asked him where he had put his tooth (well, this would help me when I got home from work :)). He said it was in between his pillows. That was just enough for me. I told him the tooth fairy was very busy each night, so he needed to put it under both pillows right on his mattress. (When he got off the phone with me, he evidently asked Grandma if teeth had to be under both pillows in order for the Tooth Fairy to come. Luckily, she said yes.) I also blamed the time change (hey it is the root of all evil, right?) and my getting home late from work - made for a short night. So that was Sunday night. Did the tooth fairy come before he went to school on Monday? Nope. Another oops. Honestly, she WAS very tired from the time change AND had run out of cash. She thought about taking it out of his piggy bank and then replacing it after running to the store, but that just seemed too wrong :). All's well that ends well. The Tooth Fairy FINALLY showed up on the fourth night (Tuesday), and all was right with his world again. He bought ice cream for his table at lunch with the money. Might as well eat that sugar before the new tooth comes in?

Ok, so THIS week I brought home bagels as a special treat. Thursday they got to have them as their after-school snack. Jack took one bite and almost dropped his. His tooth was loose and bleeding (sorry for the TMI). So I decided to be brave and try to pull it. (the previous one, we told Bryan that was his job, not mine :)) I tried a couple of times without any luck. Then Jack took the paper towel from me and said, "Here, Mommy, I can do it." Sure enough, he took the paper towel and pulled out his own tooth. Um, ok then :). So he put the tooth under his pillow (right on the mattress :)). Only took two days this time. Although Daddy said (after the fact) that the Tooth Fairy should have rewarded him for pulling out his own tooth :).

So, see how crazy-busy we are :). Oh, and every time Jack loses a tooth, Grace starts trying to wiggle hers...

We are enjoying the beautiful weather. The kids have already started on their bumps and bruises of spring. Grace *almost* has the riding of the two-wheeler down. Katie has taught herself how to swing (that one caught me off-guard - she has powerfully legs and I really don't know when she learned to pump like that - I guess she was listening at the park when I would say "in-out-in-out!" :)). Jack has an AMAZINGLY strong soccer kick. OUCH! (I TRIED to play him in the backyard today. Wow, I really am no match for him already. At least there are results to the fact that the boy is rarely without a ball indoors and out - he dribbles a soccer ball all over the house, even while reading) And our Peanut, little Mary, is suddenly growing like a weed, talking up a storm ("blue ball, Mommy!"), and LOVES to be outside, walking up and down the street over and over and over and... praise be to God!

Lots of Stuff

We have been very busy and will be posting more fun stuff very shortly.  We went as a family to Fair Oaks farms on Friday and Jack had his pinewood derby a few weeks ago.  I am a little behind on editing the pics with the play rehearsals (pics are pending).  We are to be off script for the first act beginning today.  The kids have remained healthy for several weeks straight and we are all anxiously waiting for spring to arrive in full force.