Monday, May 26, 2008

Tooth Fairy Trauma

I'm not gonna smile Mommy.

and this is why. Aww.
My darlin' has lost her sixth tooth and she is sooooo proud. And by her account, very rich. You see being our first child, we decided when she lost her first tooth last fall that this was going to be the first of some 60 teeth to be lost in our household, (not counting Bill and I of course - we're hoping that doesn't happen for just a little while longer:)) and that we would be wise to make some Tooth Fairy policies so as to not have to change course with another child, hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth (oops no teeth - hey that is one less sad sound to deal with!!) etc. But we really weren't sure - does the Tooth Fairy take the tooth or leave it? How else do you do that cool Coke experiment where the sugar and acid completely dissolve the tooth if you don't have one to do it with? But the thought of my children saving rotten teeth to make beautiful necklaces out of just grossed me out too much. We decided that the Tooth Fairy takes the tooth, never to be seen again.
A few more questions. How many rupees should the Tooth Fairy leave? Will this be subject to inflation with future children (kidding - the answer is no)? Does the Tooth Fairy travel all the way to Nepal?
OK. Forget all that. Of course she does and she is leaving 100 rupees because it is a green bill with an enormous Rhino on it sporting huge tusks. This is a little over a buck and is probably too much but we figure that the kids will not know how to convert currency and this is one thing we can change in the future.
I do have a cultural point coming. What do children in Nepal do with their milk teeth? The answer is ... that they make a wish and throw it on the roof. Some of these thatched roofs in the villages have been around for awhile - that is a lot of teeth - ewwww. Indeed, the Tooth Fairy most certainly does not have a cultural monopoly. Many cultures have a "magical" mouse or rat that comes to steal the tooth and leaves a present or money. And Nepal is not the only place where you "throw it on the roof".
Hmm. Will I ruin the magic if I tell her all this?
Laurel
PS I can't fix the formatting of this to save my life. No paragraph breaks no matter how many I see in the preview. So sorry.

1 comment:

Bramblemoon Farm said...

It's nice to know that someone besides my husband and I actually thought out the tooth fairy visit. We've been doing it for 15 years now-- my youngest is 8 and she still receives visits. I'm not sure how I survived-- I'm not sneaky and more than once I forgot and had to QUICKLY like a ninja slip into one of their rooms to take care of things. Thank goodness I talked all three out of putting it under their pillow!

I now have visions of roofs with teeth stuck to them like some strange new design that catches on:)