Tag: #Tooth

  • Tooth Fairy: Redux

    So, last night, the kid had a wiggly tooth. And she is at the age where teeth are getting wiggly. She spent about five minutes in the bathroom, and then she announced that this tooth was ready to come out.

    I thought that would be the end of it, just identifying that a tooth was lose and ready to give way. But no, the kid gave it a good yank, and out popped her little tooth. She was very proud as she held it up for us to see, wrapped in bloody toilet paper.

    This all happened about 30 minutes before her bedtime, and my first thought was that we don’t have any cash. I panicked; I can admit it. I started into a story about if the Tooth Fairy doesn’t get enough notice she might not arrive. I got a very strange look from the wife and kid.

    When I got a second alone with the wife, I told her how I didn’t have any cash, so I couldn’t put a dollar under her pillow. But, the wife did in fact, have a dollar in her purse, and all was well.

    We got out the little pillow that we put teeth in for the Fairy, and made sure it was in a good spot so she could find it. And off we drifted to sleep, the kid smiling, as she was going to be visited by the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause in the same week. What an amazing time to be a child and a magical being.

    And then I totally forgot.

    I failed at my duty as the Tooth Fairy.

    The failure was total and complete as the kid got up in the morning, holding the tooth pillow that still contained her tooth, and she looked at me and ask, “Why? Why didn’t the Tooth Fairy come?”

    “Well,” I scrambled for something to say. I thought I should return to my previous idea of the tooth coming out too late in the evening…

    “Is she made at me?” the kid asked.

    Total failure as a father. And the kid was pretty upset. The wife and I snuggled the kid on the couch. Luckily, my wife once got skipped by the Tooth Fairy when she was a kid, so we had a precedent we could fall back on.

    But man. I really dropped the ball on this one. I have set a reminder on my phone, so I don’t screw it up for a second night.

  • Ode to the Tooth Fairy

    When the wife and I decided that we wanted to start a family, and then when she found out she was pregnant, I started thinking of all the events and roles I would be taking on; How I would be killing spiders, and cleaning up spills, and doing laundry, and rocking the kid to sleep, wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve, and reading stories at bedtime. All the fun, and endearing tasks that I would have to do seemed exciting, and I couldn’t wait to get started.

    But as I thought of all of these cute fun fatherly roles I would take on; one never crossed my mind – Tooth Fairy. It’s a little funny that it never dawned on me, even when the kid was first cutting her teeth. But Tooth Fairy has become one of my favorite roles.

    I think what I like most about it is that it requires many different fatherly skills. First is the cheerleader role when the kid loses a tooth. Sometimes she needs a little encouragement to pull the tooth, but on the whole, it’s just matching her excitement of losing the it. Then comes the night and the tooth placed under the pillow. For that, I need my ninja skills of entering the room undetected, the calm hand of getting the tooth from under the pillow, and replacing it with a dollar. And on one occasion, I had to employ my acting skills, as the kid woke up, wondering why I was in her room. I played it off, saying that I thought I heard the Tooth Fairy, which did the trick. And then there is just that silly sweetness of the morning when the kid wakes up, excited that another moment of childhood magic has occurred.

    As in all things, even the Tooth Fairy has a limited life span, and I will enjoy the time I have.

  • First Time at the Dentist

    Yesterday was the kid’s first experience with going to see a dentist. I know for some people going to the dentist is not an enjoyable experience, and looking at the websites for pediatric dentists, almost all of them have a page dedicated to calming your child’s fears of going to the dentist for the first time.

    My kid saw Little Shop of Horrors, so she didn’t have the healthiest appreciation of the dental profession.

    But I was committed to making sure that the kid would have no issues with going to see the dentist for the first time. I found lots of videos online about kids going to the dentist where they explained the tools, and the procedures. We watched them together, and she very quickly associated that dentists are just like any other doctor, as they are there to help and make you feel better.

    And the pediatric dental office we went to was great! This is what they do, but they were really great at making the kid feel special, and explaining everything to her, so she wasn’t afraid. I could even feel my anxiety rise as the cleaning started, and the kid let the assistant start touching her teeth, but she was fine. It was all fine, and the kid even said that she found the dentist fun!

    I told her how proud I was of her. Then we got home to tell mom all about the dentist, and I added how proud I was of the kid. After dinner, I reminded the kid of how brave she was at the dentist, and that made me proud. As we brushed our teeth before bed, I reminded her how proud I was how she handled the dentist. And then when I tucked her in, she told me to stop telling her how proud I was of her.

    I was laying it on rather thick.

    And I had committed the sin of trying to over parent my child to compensate for my perceived failings in my life. I was a nervous, anxiety riddled child. I worried so much about things, that I often made myself sick to my stomach to where I couldn’t get out of bed. I wish I wasn’t the worry-wart little kid, as it created self-doubt and fear in me, and I have had to work hard as an adult to overcome it. I just wanted to make sure the kid isn’t afraid of things like I was.

    This might be one of those life lessons where as I parent I need to set the example, rather than over praise.