An Unexpected Visit From a Fairy

Just as I once wallowed in the aisles of the Baby’sRUs clearance section, choosing cute outfits for the girls in sizes proceeded by the word "months", now I find myself perusing other stores that carry sizes well beyond those that end in a "T". Holding them up to survey them for size, it does not seem possible that one of my children could be out of the infant area and into these ginormous clothes. As I reviewed the closet of winter items it is clear that not only are they growing, but maturing too. Somehow, the t-shirts with a cute quilted panting puppy seem far too immature for Devi. When did this happen? I have no idea. It seems we were just talking about how proud we were that she was dressing herself, or picking up her own toys, and now our time is spent discussing field trips, reading the stories she writes and cheer leading.

With this phenomena, has come other milestones as well. Devi has been wanting a loose tooth for months, asking Pat and myself to test one or two from time to time, as she is sure they are wiggling. One of her good friends who is a year older has lost her two front teeth and Devi thinks this is just the coolest thing ever. Alas, her teeth have held firm, much to her disappointment.

This all changed about two weeks ago. Expecting to break into my prepared lecture about how her teeth will get loose when they are good and ready, I found that one, a bottom tooth, had in fact, become loose. For days after, Devi excitedly wiggled and wiggled that tooth, often complaining that the area had grown sore, but she kept working at it with little reward.

Pat and I had been planning to go out of town on a Sunday, leaving the two girls in the capable hands of Oma overnight for the first time. (Yahoo for mom and dad!) The day before our departure, I was prepping Dev about what to do in the event that her tooth should come out during the 24 hour period we would be away. I had an envelope all ready to keep the tooth safe so that she could slip it under her pillow with Oma. She responded rather unexpectedly at this idea in a tone with a bit of anxiety saying, “Do you think it will come out while you are away? Can you just pull it out?” I assured her that when it was good and ready, it would come out and I had no way of knowing if it would be on Sunday or not.

Five minutes later, after settling the kids down in separate rooms for quite time that Saturday, Devi burst out of the bedroom screaming, “It came out! It came out!” Up the stairs I bolted and sure enough, there in the palm of her hand, laid a pearl of a tooth. Flashing me a bloody smile, Devi was so excited telling me that “...it just fell out!” Well, with a lot of help, but she managed to muster the courage to pop that little bit of a tooth out before we left town. I know it was probably not quite ready, as it still had one pretty long root that had not yet dissolved and her gum bled for a good long while, requiring pressure to help it to stop. She stood transfixed in front of the mirror, admiring the new hole in her smile for quite some time before I could pry her away.

That night we carefully put the envelope under her pillow, hoping that the tooth fairy might come. Sure enough, sometime before 3:25 a.m., when Devi came running into our room, that busy fairy must have made a stop at our house. A silver glittery dollar bill was carefully placed in the envelope where the tooth once was. Amazing!

Devi's new smile!