Goodbye Tooth Fairy
My youngest daughter came home from school the other day with what she considered very exciting news. For the first time, one of her teeth is loose! For the first time as a mom, that news made me sad.
I know it's a very natural progression. My "baby" is growing up and every "first" with her, is my "last". I felt the same twinge of sadness after taking her out of her crib for the last time, giving away the last of her baby clothes and sending her off as the last of my three children to go to kindergarten.
When my oldest lost her first tooth, I remember eagerly anticipating the tooth fairy's first visit. What time would she arrive? How much would she leave? How excited would my daughter be the next morning? Since then, the tooth fairy has made many visits to our house, compliments of my two oldest girls. Some for teeth that naturally fell out and a couple of times for teeth that got knocked out. (She left extra money for those teeth.) After all these years, she only "missed" a visit one time. As she explained in the apologetic note she left the next night, she wasn't able to visit because of the terrible rain storm. (Yes it had rained that night, thank goodness.)
We've moved on in our house. These days I'm paying for braces to straighten permanent teeth in two sets of mouths. Only one more mouth of baby teeth to go! As I write this, my "baby" is taking her last school picture with a full set of teeth. The very "wiggly" tooth will be coming out any day now. The tooth fairy's next visit to our house is just nights away. I am very excited for my little girl, but I am very sad for me. Maybe it's because I know I'll soon be paying for braces in a third mouth, but mostly it's because my youngest daughter is growing up. I'll miss you tooth fairy!
The Birthday Gift Guessing Game
Few things excite my daughters more than getting a birthday party invitation. I wish I could say it was just as exciting for me! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy celebrating birthdays as much as the next mom. However, the big events are a growing source of frustration for me because of the time spent agonizing over where to shop, what to buy and how much to spend on the birthday boy or girl!
I miss the good old days when my oldest was in preschool and invited to her first round of birthday celebrations. With just one child in the mix, it was manageable. I remember giving "Barney" books and anything else related to the big purple dinosaur, since he was all the rage at that time. I 'd surveyed a few friends what they spent on presents and felt fairly confident I was doing a good job of buying a nice gift without blowing the budget.
Pretty soon daughter number two was getting invitations. Barney was no longer an official "craze" and to make matters more difficult, she started getting invitations to several parties for kindergarten boys.
As the mother of three girls, I'm really lost when it comes to shopping for boys! Fast forward to my current source of birthday party gift stress, middle school! My oldest daughter's friends are turning thirteen and the "right" gift has never been more important. Yes gift cards are great, but I can't keep up with which store is the most "in" at the moment, Clarie's, Abercrombie, Hollister? Don't even get me started about the fact that my daughter seems to think I'm an ATM machine AND a personal shopper, all wrapped up in one (not so super) mom. The biggest question of all seems to be, how much to give? Does the gift amount go up with age? My daughter sure seems to think so! Should I make her pay for all or some of the present out of her babysitting money? At the same time, I'm trying to keep up with gift ideas for my six-year-old daughter's friends. Something High School Musical maybe or how about Hannah Montana? I say stop the madness and bring Barney back!
