Toothless Grin

I was out with my niece last night when Tara lost her tooth.

She wiggled one on the bottom of her mouth for most of one day, and was rewarded with it's release, very excited about the event. She realized later that evening that the top one just above it had also started to loosen, so she immediately began the wiggling to loosen it enough to pull it out. It took an extra day, but she finally was able to snatch it out last night.

The significance of this tooth event is that she is the girl that is the most persistent person I have ever known. If she wants something, she will stop at nothing to accomplish her goal.

This goal, for Tara, was not to be toothless. It was the hope of a big bonus from the Tooth Fairy!! As the first tooth was put in the envelope, she instructed her older sister to write a message to Ms. TF. Namely, "Please put $7 in the envelope."

Neither of the girls thought this was unusual. Both Mike and I laughed.

For an 8 year old, this is her one chance to make a buck. She isn't old enough for a job, she doesn't get an allowance, and anytime there is extra chores with a price tag she prefers not to partake of the activity. So, loosing teeth is her one shot.

Mike showed me the envelopes they left for the Tooth Fairy. They are adorable, and very politely blatant about her requests.

I remember being thrilled with a dime under my pillow. There may have been a time when a molar could bring in a shining quarter. My oldest kids remember 50 cents for their teeth, possibly a dollar bill if the tooth was lost under duress. Like the one time my youngest brother, Charlie, lost a tooth when mom was moving a chair over his head into the livingroom during a family gathering. Somehow the chair and Charlie's teeth collided, so the Tooth Fairy brought $3, slipping it under his pillow, which seemed totally acceptable for how he had lost that tooth. He was too young at the time to wish it had been more teeth affected.

So, here we are in the day of inflation, putting more demands on the Tooth Fairy. The girls explain it this way:

"When you were little you got change. It got to be too heavy for her to carry, so she switched to dollar bills. She knows you can't get much for a dollar, so she gives at least two dollars for every tooth now."

Tara's pillow hid $4, which, even considering inflation, seems like quite the haul to me.

It's so fun being 8.