April Fool's Day-- I can't recall ever playing out a really good AFD prank before, but two years ago when we found out I was pregnant (surprise!) with Pudge in March, the thought of waiting until April 1st to tell people was one of the few things that made me giggle during that extremely emotional time. But, AFD is a big hit with kids, so when I turned the kitchen calendar this morning and the realization hit JAM, he pulled out an on-the-spot joke for me. Which I guess I technically fell for, even though the impact wasn't quite what he was looking for:
JAM: "Oh Mom! I forgot to tell you-- I lost one of my Star Wars lego guns!"
Me (feigning interest not very convincingly at 7:30 am): "Uh, sorry to hear that, man."
JAM (incredibly enthusiastic with a gotcha! tone: "APRIL FOOL'S!! HA HA HA HA! I got you!"
Me: "You sure did there buddy."
Teeth-- JAM lost his 6th tooth last night, or if you want to get technical about it, I pulled a tooth from my son's mouth for the 6th time last night. Yeah, he's that kid that waits until the tooth is literally hanging on its last thread and then he freaks out about not being able to go to sleep because WHAT IF IT FALLS OUT WHILE I'M SLEEPING?!?! So, wrap a tissue around it, give a little yank and there you go. That scene is actually quite old for us, but the whole Tooth Fairy thing is what I'm wondering about now. After the tooth was extracted last night, I put it in a baggy and labeled it without even thinking-- you know the thing that I've done 5 times before, but always after I've assumed the role of Tooth Fairy and left some cash. And he didn't even comment. We both simply forgot about the whole exchange of former body part for payment, and I'm wondering if that means it's time to move on. So, I stupidly mention it to him this morning at breakfast, as he's reading the book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World, and he tells me that since it's still a front tooth that he should get some money for it since that's what they do in Mexico. I pondered asking him if he wanted me to book him a flight, but I held back (mostly). But that still begs the question-- for how many teeth are we as parents beholden to the cash-for-teeth program??
Flowers-- I can't in any way claim to be crafty like some of my blogworld pals-- Sarah, Lucia, Gretchen, as great examples-- but today we did a SO simple craft that made our lunch table just a little brighter. We picked a few of those little daffodils that somehow ended up growing in the 'woodsy' area around our house (using woodsy VERY loosely), but I had no little bud vase to hold them. Enter a water bottle-- the right size, but oh so plain. With a few markers and a little scrap of construction paper, the bottle was transformed into a cute and recycled vase. I decided to break the rules a little bit and cut one single large daffodil from Daddy's garden and added to the middle, giving us this kid-craft-chic flower piece for our kitchen table:
Spending my day with fools (via jokes-- don't worry not calling anyone out here!), abandoned teeth and beautiful flowers,
I'm pretty sure I got $1 for every tooth. But I was an only child, of sorts, so it wasn't quite as costly. Then, I had surgery and had 4 baby teeth removed AND the 4 adult teeth that were supposed to come in behind them. Scored a cool $20 on that deal!
ReplyDeleteMe, again. Forgot to mention how cute your kitchen table is!
ReplyDeleteI love your vase and flowers. I'm so glad you recorded it. We still do the tooth fairy thing, even though everyone knows the story (I have an almost 13-year old with 4 more teeth to lose, plus we give treats for the wisdom teeth when the teenagers get those yanked). We do the same thing with Santa. We talk about all these characters like they are my assistants, so the kids retain a little magic in their souls, albeit a kind of practical magic, because I call the shots about how much and what the make believe folks bring. :o)
ReplyDeleteOh Kellie, thanks for your comment! I don't have your email address, so I don't know if you'll come back here and even see this, but I wanted to say that I really like your approach with your kids. I think JAM will have no choice but to continue to play along with such significantly younger siblings! :)
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm behind in reading your blog. Just posted at the previous post "talking teeth." So cool to have you mention "Tooth Traditions from Around the World!" Refers to a question I ask in my post I gave you. Also, my family does just like Kellie's. I love keeping that magic around. It doesn't have to disappear just because we get older. And I like the kids to think they can bring that pleasure to someone else. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd your daffodils are so charming!
Wow, a friend of mine's daughter turns six in May and has already lost four (five?) teeth. It really does vary by kid, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteAnd I never knew that daffodils came in white. Very cool!