Tales of the Tooth Fairy

So, funny story. Gage had a little mishap at school the other day and I got a call from his teacher while I was still at work. Apparently he had been playing with some kids at recess and they decided he couldn't play with them anymore. (I'm sure he had nothing to do with that!) Well, instead of getting upset and running away, or finding other friends to play with, he decided to tell one of the boys that he was going to "crush his bones and flatten his skull..." and proceeded to make the throat cutting action with his fingers. So, of course I freak out and wonder if my kid needs counseling so he doesn't grow up to be the uni-bomber or something worse. Later I found out he'd learned it on Spongebob- yes, he is the devil in disguise- and he had no idea that anyone would think he really intended to kill another child. But that is what the teacher said! That he had THREATENED SOME OTHER KIDS LIFE! Are you kidding me? Well, that said- in the meantime the same day, Gage's tooth fell out. He was sooooo excited, he got a tooth box to put it in from the office and brought it home to show us, but since we'd been a little upset with him, the tooth was not high on the list of priorities. After punishments and crying on his part, pajamas, stories, teeth brushing and flouride, Gage went to bed. About 6 in the morning, Gage was in my bedroom cause he couldn't sleep. He whispered to me, "Mom? It's not quite morning yet, so I'm not going to check under my pillow- I don't know if the tooth fairy would have had time to come yet!"
Yeah, good thing, cause I don't think the tooth fairy had "had time" to come yet. I suddenly developed a stomach ache that required medicine downstairs, and told him he could stay in my bed for a minute till I got back. Luckily, the tooth fairy had come and gone by the time I got back to my bed, and when Gage checked under his pillow, he had his prize!
So, after all that (I know, a little random right?) this is what he came home with today- another loose tooth. This one is hangin by a thread, and I am way too much of a pansie to pull it out myself.
I love my Gage so much- and I want you all to know, that even though he isn't perfect, just like my daughter, they are really good kids. I love raising them, even with the challenges they pose. If we didn't have challenges, we wouldn't have memories like these! Just as a side-note, I read this on my favorite new blog- The Meanest Mom...and thought you might all love it as much as I did.

Having children (and, more generally, just being alive) puts us in situations every day where we are forced to make a choice: we can either laugh about what we or our children have just done, or we can cry. Sometimes we do both. However, if, at the end of the day, if we can’t smile about the mishaps, failings, and mistakes that we make or watch our children make—or, more importantly, if we never admit that we have them—then we risk becoming someone who finds the act of waking up in the morning really scary and overwhelmingly hard. More importantly, we risk producing children who can’t deal with challenges or cope with disappointment.

Amen.