What can I say? My life is all over the place. Between the kiddo, work, school and dating, there is always something new happening that affects Johnny. I've recently interviewed for a new job, (I don't think I'll get it, but still...) my classes have been intense, and dating? Well-- long story there pretty much ends in starting over again. That fact makes me feel bad about Johnny getting to know the last guy, but at the same time, he is a resilient kiddo and after an initial feeling bummed, he seems over it. Meanwhile, we are experiencing the winter that will NEVER. END. The lack of time outdoors in the sunshine is taking it's toll on pretty much the entire Northeast, and my kiddo and I are no exception. One thing remains true: Johnny is Johnny, no matter what you do!
The most recent bit of excitement in our lives has been a kiddo milestone that Johnny has reached. The other day, he lost his first tooth. Unfortunately, he swallowed it. I don't think that this would have been a huge deal, had it not been his very first lost tooth.
We had been over at my mom's house for dinner that evening, and he proudly showed his grammy and pappy the wiggling tooth. For part of his dinner, he ate an apple. I thought nothing of it. On our way home, I stopped by the drive-thru CVS near our house, and in the middle of going to pay, he started shouting from the back seat, "It's gone! It's gone! I lost my tooth!". Well, this seemed to be exciting and fun until we realized that the tooth was nowhere to be seen. After searching all around him in the car and in the folds of his jacket, we called my mom to have her look around her house wherever he had been. The wonderful lady at the window who was watching all of this unfold was very positive and continued telling Johnny that either way, it would be okay, sometimes kids just swallow them. While she was just trying to help and certainly said what I would have said to any kid in that situation, it threw him for a loop. She even offered him a lollipop, which he usually isn't allowed to have because of the sugar content, but seeing that it was just a little dum-dum, I made an exception because I felt horrible that he was so upset and the lady unassumingly had made it worse.
As I'm driving home, Johnny's wails run the gamut from being sure the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come if there was no tooth, to needing to go to the hospital to get the tooth out of his belly because you're not supposed to swallow teeth and he might die. It isn't every day that you hear a kid wail, "I need a doctor!!!" repeatedly. (Truthfully, he was really worried. He was more concerned about it hurting him than he was about getting it back. He was convinced that it would kill him, because teeth don't belong in your belly!) Once we got home, it took some serious explaining and quite a bit of reasoning with Mr. Logical about the situation.
1. Kids swallow their teeth accidentally all of the time, the Tooth Fairy understands and other kids have all lived.
2. In order to ensure that the Tooth Fairy realizes that he lost the tooth, we can simply leave her a note.
3. Yes, you're right, the tooth fairy must be busy checking under every boy and girl's pillow every night, not knowing when or if anyone has lost any teeth.
4. Expect $1 bill from the Tooth Fairy.
5. The faster you relax, calm down, and get to bed, the faster the Tooth Fairy can come.
While he argued that the Tooth Fairy really might not realize to even come and check under his pillow to begin with, and time doesn't actually speed up no matter what you do, I did eventually talk him into writing a letter to the Tooth Fairy and got him off to bed only about 45 minutes later than usual. Note: he also needed a full scientific explanation as to the journey his tooth will take through his body, all the way down to where it will end up... and no, mama will not retrieve it from it's final destination.
You would think that this was the end of the Tooth Fairy drama, but you would be wrong.
Ecstatic about his dollar, Johnny came running to me at about 4am and decided he needed to hop in my bed and tell me all about it. I couldn't help but smile, and pulled back the blankets for him to join me. I had only just fallen asleep myself, and I'm pretty sure I dozed throughout the conversation. When daylight came and we began getting ready for school, he was off on his merry way and good to go. Then, walking out the door, he realized his dollar was missing. Queue panic. Honestly, I was in a hurry and while it might not have been the most gentle way to handle the situation, I picked him up and carried him to the car, assuring him that we would find it when we got home.
Johnny proceeds to get home that afternoon and scour the entire house. As it became apparent to me that he really might not find it, I pulled another dollar out of my wallet and just dropped it on the floor. However, the newly appointed Mr. Observation was able to tell that it wasn't the same dollar. He still can't explain to me how he knows, but he instantly knew it "didn't look the same" as the other one, (neither had any markings from what I could remember-- but knowing my kid, he looked at the serial number) and insisted that I must have lost my own dollar. I admitted that I had lost a dollar, but that he could keep that one and I'd just take the other one if it ever showed up. Um... nice try, mama. He wanted the one the Tooth Fairy gave him. No amount of talking could convince him otherwise. He set out on another search, to no avail. Finally he decided that he would hold my dollar for me to "keep it safe" until he found his own.
Oh my word-- I had no idea that being the Tooth Fairy would be such an involved job! It remains both amusing and sometimes frustrating to me that Johnny's brain works so differently from a lot of other children. I know that mine is just the same, but it doesn't make it easy sometimes. Most other kids are a little more trusting of whatever explanation you give for a situation. And goodness, noticing that it was a different dollar? Really? It remains amazing to me how capable both he and I are at observing the little details with random things in life, yet remain incapable of picking up on details pertaining to people. In the end, my job as the Tooth Fairy may have been less than perfectly executed, but at least I'll know what might be coming the next time around.
The most recent bit of excitement in our lives has been a kiddo milestone that Johnny has reached. The other day, he lost his first tooth. Unfortunately, he swallowed it. I don't think that this would have been a huge deal, had it not been his very first lost tooth.
We had been over at my mom's house for dinner that evening, and he proudly showed his grammy and pappy the wiggling tooth. For part of his dinner, he ate an apple. I thought nothing of it. On our way home, I stopped by the drive-thru CVS near our house, and in the middle of going to pay, he started shouting from the back seat, "It's gone! It's gone! I lost my tooth!". Well, this seemed to be exciting and fun until we realized that the tooth was nowhere to be seen. After searching all around him in the car and in the folds of his jacket, we called my mom to have her look around her house wherever he had been. The wonderful lady at the window who was watching all of this unfold was very positive and continued telling Johnny that either way, it would be okay, sometimes kids just swallow them. While she was just trying to help and certainly said what I would have said to any kid in that situation, it threw him for a loop. She even offered him a lollipop, which he usually isn't allowed to have because of the sugar content, but seeing that it was just a little dum-dum, I made an exception because I felt horrible that he was so upset and the lady unassumingly had made it worse.
As I'm driving home, Johnny's wails run the gamut from being sure the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come if there was no tooth, to needing to go to the hospital to get the tooth out of his belly because you're not supposed to swallow teeth and he might die. It isn't every day that you hear a kid wail, "I need a doctor!!!" repeatedly. (Truthfully, he was really worried. He was more concerned about it hurting him than he was about getting it back. He was convinced that it would kill him, because teeth don't belong in your belly!) Once we got home, it took some serious explaining and quite a bit of reasoning with Mr. Logical about the situation.
1. Kids swallow their teeth accidentally all of the time, the Tooth Fairy understands and other kids have all lived.
2. In order to ensure that the Tooth Fairy realizes that he lost the tooth, we can simply leave her a note.
3. Yes, you're right, the tooth fairy must be busy checking under every boy and girl's pillow every night, not knowing when or if anyone has lost any teeth.
4. Expect $1 bill from the Tooth Fairy.
5. The faster you relax, calm down, and get to bed, the faster the Tooth Fairy can come.
While he argued that the Tooth Fairy really might not realize to even come and check under his pillow to begin with, and time doesn't actually speed up no matter what you do, I did eventually talk him into writing a letter to the Tooth Fairy and got him off to bed only about 45 minutes later than usual. Note: he also needed a full scientific explanation as to the journey his tooth will take through his body, all the way down to where it will end up... and no, mama will not retrieve it from it's final destination.
You would think that this was the end of the Tooth Fairy drama, but you would be wrong.
Ecstatic about his dollar, Johnny came running to me at about 4am and decided he needed to hop in my bed and tell me all about it. I couldn't help but smile, and pulled back the blankets for him to join me. I had only just fallen asleep myself, and I'm pretty sure I dozed throughout the conversation. When daylight came and we began getting ready for school, he was off on his merry way and good to go. Then, walking out the door, he realized his dollar was missing. Queue panic. Honestly, I was in a hurry and while it might not have been the most gentle way to handle the situation, I picked him up and carried him to the car, assuring him that we would find it when we got home.
Johnny proceeds to get home that afternoon and scour the entire house. As it became apparent to me that he really might not find it, I pulled another dollar out of my wallet and just dropped it on the floor. However, the newly appointed Mr. Observation was able to tell that it wasn't the same dollar. He still can't explain to me how he knows, but he instantly knew it "didn't look the same" as the other one, (neither had any markings from what I could remember-- but knowing my kid, he looked at the serial number) and insisted that I must have lost my own dollar. I admitted that I had lost a dollar, but that he could keep that one and I'd just take the other one if it ever showed up. Um... nice try, mama. He wanted the one the Tooth Fairy gave him. No amount of talking could convince him otherwise. He set out on another search, to no avail. Finally he decided that he would hold my dollar for me to "keep it safe" until he found his own.
Oh my word-- I had no idea that being the Tooth Fairy would be such an involved job! It remains both amusing and sometimes frustrating to me that Johnny's brain works so differently from a lot of other children. I know that mine is just the same, but it doesn't make it easy sometimes. Most other kids are a little more trusting of whatever explanation you give for a situation. And goodness, noticing that it was a different dollar? Really? It remains amazing to me how capable both he and I are at observing the little details with random things in life, yet remain incapable of picking up on details pertaining to people. In the end, my job as the Tooth Fairy may have been less than perfectly executed, but at least I'll know what might be coming the next time around.
Dear Karie Anne,
ReplyDeleteYou totally rock (in a white polished tooth kind of way!)
LMI