Nick-of-Time Tooth Fairy

One year. Three loose teeth with Mazy. I now have a very clear understanding of the origin of the phrase,"It's like pulling teeth..."

Each tooth-pulling experience has been a two-hour ordeal that is painful for both of us. I alternate between feeling like a bully, a cheerleader, a motivational coach and a dentist. The first hour is spent convincing him that the very loose tooth (this one has been hanging around since early December!) needs to come out. Tonight.

There's a lot of crying and whining and complaining, by all of us. Shawn threatens to pull it. Mazy freaks out. Bo gets involved and tells Mazy to "Pull it, Mazy, pull it!" And then I come in to calm Mazy down and begin the agonizing journey of moving him from fear and pain to glory and triumph when he finally pulls it out. It's exhausting, but at the end, I am so proud of him for beating the pain and getting that tooth out ALL BY HIMSELF!

And that was last night. After the ordeal, and when he was finally in bed at 9ish. I went downstairs to read the third of a new trio of books Shawn bought me. You might have heard of them, "The Hunger Games." They're really good! I've read one a day since I started them! They're written for teenagers but clearly adults love them as well. Fast, action-packed, easy reads. You should check them out.

Anyway, I stayed up reading until 1 a.m. and completely forgot to retrieve the tooth from the tooth fairy pillow and replace it with two golden dollar coins that are in my sock drawer. I woke up this morning at 7:30 and it hit me! I got out of bed faster than I have in months, grabbed two coins from my stash and raced to the boys' room. The moment I opened the door, Mazy jumped up and said, "Let's see what the tooth fairy brought me!" I casually reached down like I was checking it out and he said, "Don't look! Don't look! Let me!" In those 5 seconds, I was able to slip two coins in the pocket in back and just barely catch that tiny tooth out of the front pocket with my fingernail and slide it into my palm.

Whew! Success! He didn't suspect a thing, which is saying a lot for Mazy... He suspects EVERYTHING! But his faith in the tooth fairy is still secure and I can rest easy today knowing I didn't completely screw it up!

Taking the boys to "Chipwrecked" today at 11:30. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it. They've been home for two days and are bouncing off the walls like little maniacs already...