THE TOOTH FAIRY

We are in the midst of the tooth-loosing stage at our house these days. Caleb has lost all four of his bottom teeth and Adam just lost his first one this evening. I say "lost" in the case of Adam but that doesn't do the removal of the tooth process justice with that little guy. Let me start by explaining the two distinct levels of pain tolerance in my boys. Adam is the toughest of the toughest (besides Lanie who isn't quite right when it comes to pain) and Caleb is just............not very tough. I used to think of a having a high tolerance for pain as a good character quality one possesses, but now I believe it has more to do with physical pain receptors that we each are born with. Does that make sense? So, the ability to bear pain is not only due to the idea of just being emotionally tough and all, but is more due to the fact that pain actually feels differently to some people. I have seen this played out with Caleb and Adam. Caleb painfully teethed for weeks as a baby, while Adam's baby teeth just appeared one day. No warning, just there they were. Then there is the shameful fact that when Adam broke his femur bone at the age of two, we didn't even take him to the doctor until the next morning because he quit crying pretty quickly and we were in Georgia so we waited..... bad parent feeling, for sure when we found out it was actually broken.

ANYWAYS, back to the teeth. Caleb has probably set some sort of record for how long a tooth can be loose and holding on by a strand before it falls out naturally. Adam, on the other hand, had a this tooth that was just barely loose and he yanked and pushed on it .....and had me pull as hard as I could...... and had Seth pull on it........... and had Emily pull on it... until we finally got that darn thing out. ( it did have a permanent tooth growing in well behind it so I thought it would be good to get it out anyhow) He was so excited to finally lose a tooth!

Let me back up and tell you why it is so exciting to loose a tooth around here. It is not because they get a lot of money. It is actually because they have a personal relationship with the tooth fairy herself. Emily (10 yr. old neighbor) has taken it upon herself to put on this whole masquerade of tooth fairy-ness. She writes them notes from the tooth fairy and even calls them every other day or so to tell them about her adventures and how they need to be well-behaved and all. I am astounded at how gullible they are. It almost worries me. And then I think, "wow, if I accomplish teaching them anything in school it will be quite an achievement" OK, I am kidding, they are both pretty darn smart. just gullible.


It really is cute and quite helpful. The tooth fairy tells them to make sure and remember to wear their shoes to the gym, do their handwriting assignment, and brush their teeth well.

I had better go and put Adam's money under his pillow. I forgot one time with Caleb. It was OK because I just snuck up that morning and switched it out. I'll bet you never knew that the tooth fairy can come during breakfast!