Guess which 5-year-old lost her first tooth on the first day of Fall?

And guess who wasn’t at home when it happened? Mama and Dada. We were out enjoying a lovely date night dinner. Luckily Bess, our daughter’s much beloved babysitter, was on site for the big event.

This particular tooth had been a topic of frequent conversation for over the past month, after it “got wiggly.” I was expecting it to come out any day, but not this day! Thankfully we were prepared for this momentous occasion.

Bess gave us her tiny tooth which we carefully placed in the special Tooth Fairy box. And then we went to sleep.

Lo and behold! When we all awoke in the morning, we saw a small piece of  paper tied with a ribbon sitting beside the box. The paper was ceremoniously unrolled and this is what it said.

Tucked inside the box was a rainbow bracelet with one small locket (Hello Kitty, of course!). Inside the locket was our daughter’s tiny tooth.

Some tooth fairies take the tooth and fly away, leaving a gift behind, but our little one wanted to save the teeth she lost—just like her mama did—so we put out vibes for the same special tooth fairy to look over our daughter’s precious pearly whites.

At the breakfast table this morning, we had a long conversation. We talked about tooth fairies of yore and tooth fairies today. We told her what we’d each received when we’d left behind our teeth (Big Papa got a dime and I received all manner of coins). There were questions about the gifts, the teeth, what happens in other families. Lots of breathy excitement over this big life transition.

I still remember what a big deal it was to lose my baby teeth. And how badly I wanted to keep them. Which is why I still have mine, thanks to my tooth fairy, tucked away in a drawer, and nestled in the same slim gold Cigarillo box where I placed them many years ago.

It’s all about the journey,

Beth

Postscript: When I dropped my daughter off at kindergarten, her teacher told me she is the first in their class to lose a tooth and they “graph it.”