My daughter lost yet another tooth today! This reminded me that I had written a whole page about
the tooth fairy a few years ago. So after a few edits, here it is.
Nowadays,Tooth
fairy is a big deal in my house. We have welcomed her or him (in case this is
'The Rock, Mr. Dwayne Johnson......you know the guy from the tooth fairy movie? )several times with my older son's teeth
episodes and have joyfully ventured into my younger daughter's journey, so to
speak.
A few years ago, I was oblivious to this concept of the tooth fairy. My older son was at the verge of losing his first baby tooth when my baby girl was just beginning to teeth! A few
years into our living in the US, I remember vividly, the first time my son
mentioned ' the tooth fairy'.
"Mom, everyone in school's telling me the tooth fairy is going to visit me
soon", he casually said.
"WHO? WHAT? WHY?"
As any
quick thinking 'international' mother would do, I did my research and
delivered!! I made arrangements and the tooth fairy left a whopping dollar
under my son's pillow. Phew! Dodged a bullet there.
Now
what I did not know was, the fairy was expected to come every time a tooth was lost.
Seriously? The second time, she left 5 dollars under his pillow.
My best guess is, she did not have change because she probably did not know my
son was going to lose his tooth over dinner and she probably did not have time
to run to the store to get some change. That 5 dollar thingy stopped right
there. I made sure the tooth fairy never did that again. I even left a note
that said, "One dollar would be enough, fairy" and had my son sign
it.
She showed
up even when my son swallowed a tooth and went into a frenzy of what would
happen to his tummy. Very uncalled for and quite unexpected, she came anyway.
Left a dollar! and made my son's day. She was consistent however, until he
started losing his molars....... and let me ask you do they not count???? Don't molars matter? Are they not teeth? Because
she DID NOT SHOW UP-much to my son's dismay. Ugh! How dare she forget? But
after numerous notes, she came one day and left a little something. But my son
was over it by then. It took a bit of prodding from my family's side to
convince my son to actually look under his pillow. Lo and behold! She had come
and she had left a dollar.....just like mommy had guessed. Thank you, tooth fairy.
For changing me from a 'What is a tooth fairy?" to "I can make her show up
tonight". I think I am a pro at this now. I really,really hope she has
that dollar that needs to be put under my daughter's pillow tonight.
All I had growing up was ,"You
lost your teeth? OOH the flood gates are open." or "Is that the
gateway of India?" or " Did you drop it off at the cleaners?" I
can't wait to mention the 'tooth fairy' to my relatives in India or mention that
there is actually a pillow you can buy which comes with a pocket to put the
tooth in! Just can't wait. I wonder how much money every kid makes just by
virtue of losing baby teeth that is bound to fall out anyway. Should those funds just
be redirected to 'the braces funds' which is probably the next 'teeth' event in the next few years?!
You must remember the Indian celebration of teething! "பல்லு முளைத்தால் பால் கொழுக்கட்டை!" the special milk sweet dish prepared and shared with all the children in the neighbourhood! I included the 'u' in the word because I had to "say it in Indian!" I wish I had a tooth fairy visiting me these days! I would certainly be a rich man for all the "meat and bone" (not milk) teeth I am losing!
ReplyDeleteWhen a friend noticed I lost a tooth, she advised, "Go in for a denture at once; teeth migrate!" I told her, "My teeth don't. They emigrate!"
You sparked my curiosity about the origins of the Tooth Fairy! As it turns out, she is a fairly recent, American (no surprise there!) invention, with roots in other cultural traditions. In some cultures, children leave their baby teeth as an offering to mice or rats, in the hopes that their teeth will be equally strong. The Tooth Fairy is a lot of pressure!
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