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Lilli and Orion both lost a tooth on Sunday!
We got the teeth in place the same day, which is a record! (We put them in the windowsill, because earlier this year there was an incident with a tooth being paid for, but not collected, because it was lost in Lilli's bed for a week. The tooth fairy auditing department sent her a note (with a dime, to hold it down, because it was tiny) thanking her for turning in the missing tooth.)
Well. Lilli woke up before her tooth fairy came. She brought me her tooth in a huff and put it on my bathroom counter.
Orion, who doesn't want a fairy to come when the rest of the world get a mouse, slept long enough for el Ratón Pérez to stop by before school. But it too him two days to notice the shiny new coin.
Monday night, while I was snuggling Lilli in bed, I explained to Lilli that Laura (her tooth fairy) was running late on Monday. She had come by after Lilli left for school. Lilli knows that I send Laura messages, and occasionally deliver teeth to Laura (like in the incident mentioned above). While I was telling Lilli about Laura stopping by, Lilli said, "Wait! You SAW the tooth fairy?"
Uh... (thinking fast) "Yeees."
"What does she look like!?"
Um.... (more thinking fast)
"Well, she's taller than normal, for a tooth fairy."
"That doesn't give me much to work with. What color are her eyes? Is her hair blonde? Red?"
"Well, she's so small that I couldn't tell what color her eyes are. But her hair is kind of blonde-ish."
"Blonde-red?" (I think she imagines her tooth fairy with red hair!)
"Nooo... more like blonde-brown."
She was satisfied at that point. But if she ever starts to catch on, at least I can honestly say that I am not her tooth fairy!
We discussed putting her tooth out for Laura to come by another night. But we can't find it. I'm worried that Davey might have found it and played with it...
We knew about the little tooth mouse that visited our vecinos y amigos at our last house. But we found The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez by René Colato Laínez at our library just before Orion lost his first tooth and he realized that the Tooth Fairy isn't the only one with the tooth collecting job out there!
I particularly appreciated the story in this book because I have so many friends who are from other countries who are currently living in the United States with their children. When you're an expatriate or the first generation born in a new country, who collects your teeth? Your native tooth-collector? Or the one from your host country? The tension in this story subtly and beautifully addresses a dichotomy immigrants face in most aspects of their lives.
