Dear Tooth Fairy
It was just three days ago that I asked Eamonn if he had any loose teeth. Maybe he was nervous about the idea of losing a tooth? I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, he resisted my attempt to check his front teeth, or to show him how to check for himself. I never did get to see if anything was loose, but I assumed it wasn’t. My older son was 7 1/2 before his first tooth fell out, and I had no reason to believe Eamonn would be any different.
So, you can imagine it was a bit of a surprise last night, when Eamonn opened his mouth to laugh and I saw a little hole where his bottom left front tooth had been. Somewhere in the last three days, that tooth disappeared, and nobody even noticed! I suspect it came out in the bagel he had for lunch but there’s no real way to know.
I’ll admit I was momentarily distressed that I wouldn’t be able to keep Eamonn’s first baby tooth socked away in the top drawer of my nightstand, like all of his brother’s baby teeth. But then I laid eyes on his letter to the Tooth Fairy. Oh, this is a much better keepsake than the tooth itself. Old teeth don’t make me giggle quite so much as that letter, which is quintessentially Eamonn: my silly little, growing-up-so-fast, 6 1/2 year-old, tooth-losing, boy.
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Okay, maybe this is something I’ll never understand because I’m not a parent, but my first reaction to the thought of keeping a kid’s baby teeth was, “Ewwww!” I’m pretty sure my mother didn’t keep mine, either, not that I can really hold her up as a paragon of motherhood…
The letter is cute, though.
Well, keeping them forever is not my plan, really. I think of it more as an opportunity to come across them someday in the future when I’m cleaning, turn to a teenaged son, toss him the bag of teeth and gross him out just a little bit.
Parents live for opportunities like that. Well, maybe not all parents do, but I rarely turn them down
Not one to treasure the icky baby teeth here either–I usually tuck them into a drawer or something, then find them a while later and think “bleh, what’s this?”
Now about that note–where’d he get the cool retro printer paper?
.-= See Penny’s latest blog post: The Garden and the Snail =-.
Aidan’s teeth are tucked away in the same drawer as a braid of my own hair from 33 years ago. Apparently I’m starting a collection of slightly icky curiosities.
The paper is Drew University dot matrix printer letterhead – we have a huge box of the stuff. Very retro. Not to mention cheap.
When I’m reading through papers in archives, I sometimes come across a subset marked “realia,” which usually means braids of hair and such. I avoid those boxes and folders. Shudder.
.-= See Penny’s latest blog post: The Garden and the Snail =-.
This is priceless. Knowing Eamonn makes it even better. BTW, I kept my boys first tooth, maybe more, and not sure but think I might still have them. It is a passage of motherhood I would not have missed for the world!!
You should see some of the things Eamonn is writing these days – very amusing! And I have to admit, the tooth-losing thing makes me a little sad – those first teeth are like the last holdout of babyhood, and when they start falling out, it feels too much like “big kid” territory to me!
I have two teenaged daughters and I do have baby teeth stashed in jewelry box drawers. Not being organized, I no longer remember whose are whose, but I don’t mind having them there. My youngest daughter lost her first tooth while eating a gingersnap and swallowed it. She was equally excited and repulsed. I still have her darling note hidden away, very similar to your son’s.
.-= See Karin Buckingham’s latest blog post: Win a copy of Altered You! =-.
Excited and repulsed – that’s funny. I don’t think Eamonn realized that he probably swallowed the tooth until I mentioned it in passing a few days later. There was a moment of horror, but it was soon replaced by glee at the idea of pooping it out. Ugh. Boys!
What an adorable letter! That is a treasure for sure!
I have saved many of my kids teeth too. Even have a few of my own, when I was too old to put them under my pillow. You’re not weird. Just sentimental!
.-= See Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor’s latest blog post: Start Selling Your Polymer Clay Jewelry, Her Friends Say (I Agree) =-.
Shhh! Don’t tell anybody! I’ve worked hard for that “weird” reputation
This is so sweet and I love the handwriting on the letter. I have saved every tooth my son ever lost. He is now 24 and I tease him and tell him I am going to make a necklace out of them and have his fiance wear it on their wedding day. LoL. I so miss having dear little ones.
smiLES
LiBBy BuTTons
Oh, too funny! The embarrassment factor of these childhood mementos are really just the icing on the cake