My Pagey is getting so stinkin' big I cried last night. She learned how to ride a two-wheeler this weekend thanks to her Poppy and her Daddy. And last night she lost her first tooth! This post will be dedicated to that.
She came running down the stairs last night about 8:30 all excited that she had pulled out her first tooth. We took some pictures and helped stop the bleeding, which was more than I thought it would be. Then she said she wanted to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. Here is where I need to insert some background information. Will and I both felt devestated as children when our parents told us that Santa Claus wasn't real. We felt like our parents lied to us and were really hurt be the experience. (I know it is odd that we both felt that way, most kids don't care.) So when we got married we decided that we would never lie to our children, not even about the littlest thing. So, we don't do Santa or the Easter Bunny. We simply focus our attention on the real reason for the holiday instead of the make believe. They still do all the things other kids do, like take pictures with Santa and do Easter egg hunts and things like that. But it is just for fun, they know the real meaning behind everything. I know a lot of people don't agree with that, but it was something we felt strongly about and both wanted to do for our family.
So back to last night when Page said she wanted to put her tooth under her pillow I was taken aback. I didn't know what to do. She was SOOOO excited and full of joy. People have told us that we are depriving our children of fantasy and of being a child and those thoughts came rushing into my head. What if we are? Should I do it? She seems to think it is real, what could it hurt? So I got her a little bag to put her tooth in and she asked if she could write a note to the tooth fairy asking to keep her first tooth so she could show all of her friends at school. Once she was asleep I sprinkled glitter in a trail from her window sill to her bed and a little on her sheets. Replaced her note with one that said how proud of her "Flossy the tooth fairy" was for brushing her teeth so well. Then I put taped the tooth bag and the money to the card from Flossy and put it under her pillow.
Well first of all, the glitter in her bed was a bad idea. She got some in her eye when she woke up. She asked a few times if the tooth fairy had really come and I said yes. I lied to my daughter.
I took Emma to gymnastics and when I came back page had a few questions. She asked Will in the middle of a story if he had seen her come into the room last night. He thought she was talking about the tooth fairy, and said no. Then she asked if I was in bed when he woke up this morning. It was then that he realized where this conversation was going. She went on to say that she knew the tooth fairy wasn't real but that she pretended because other friends argue with her about it because she doesn't believe. He said to ask me about it when I got home and that we really just wanted her to enjoy the make believe with her.
When I got home she asked me why I tricked her. She knew the tooth fairy wasn't real and wanted to know why I would lie about it. Okay, stab me in the heart and make me cry again! I told her that she was so excited about it we wanted her to keep being that excited. She said she didn't like me tricking her and to please not do it again. I said that we could still keep doing the tooth fairy game even though she knew it was me and daddy. She said she didn't want to except one more time. Then she said that she wanted to put her tooth under her pillow but for us not to do anything. She wanted to see if the tooth fairy was real. I was kind of confused by that statement because she said that she knew we had tricked her bad that it wasn't real and then at the end of the conversation wanted to see if it was real.
Emma also had some issues this morning. She got on the floor and was examining the "fairy dust" for quite a while before asking me if it was true. I told her that I had heard that when Flossy dances in your room she leaves a trail of glitter. She asked me again and I lied and said yes, it was real. I could tell that she didn't believe me and I didn't know what to do. Man this sucks! I promised to never lie, my kids trusted me and then I lied and they felt betrayed. The exact thing I was trying to protect them from. Lesson learned, DO NOT LIE TO YOUR CHILDREN. They didn't care that it was pretend, they wanted to know the truth. I hate that I lied to them.
On a lighter note, here are some pictures.
