We read the Junie B. Jones story where she loses her first tooth in May, before either lil had lost a tooth.  They were instantly fascinated, not by the money that came from the tooth fairy, but by the tooth-shaped necklace that Junie got to carry her tooth around in when she lost her tooth at school.  Woo and Goose thought that was the coolest thing EVER, but didn’t actually believe that this cool necklace could exist.

As luck would have it, a boy in their class lost his tooth at school that week, and, much to their surprise, he got a necklace.  When Woo saw this, he became focussed, jiggling his one loose tooth only on Monday through Thursdays; hoping that he would lose it at school.  Sadly for him it came out at home and he missed out on the necklace. His next few teeth fell out over the summer, where there was no hope of a necklace, so we all pretty much forgot about it.

Forgot, that is, until Goose lost her first tooth at school a few weeks ago.  She was so pleased with that little necklace.  As soon as Woo saw it, he became a boy obsessed.  He had one wiggly tooth left, and he was desperate to lose at school now.  Woo started wiggling it all the time, a fact that was not lost on his teacher.  Woo started coming home with helpful tips on a fairly regular basis, all of which were attributed to his teacher. Some of my favourites include; ‘I need to eat an apple, it will knock it out’, ‘the apple that you sent in was too soft, it won’t knock it out’, ‘I need to hold the tooth with something to get a better grip’, ‘I could tie something around the tooth and yank’, and ‘maybe Daddy will help me pull it out’.

Just when I thought we were going to hear that Woo could tie a string around the tooth and a doorknob, it happened.

I am certain that no one was happier to see an end to all that wiggling than Woo’s teacher, likely because Woo’s desk is right beside the teacher’s desk.  Little does he know that Woo did not offer the tooth up to the tooth fairy tonight.  He’s a big fan of the necklace, wants to keep the tooth in it, and maybe start wearing it to school every day.  If I don’t let him do that, he is proud to report that he has two more loose teeth now.

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There is nothing like the first few minutes with your child after you return from a trip.  It’s happiness and love and filled with hugs.  That’s what it was like yesterday with Woo, upon my return from Blissdom.  He leapt into my arms and joyfully filled my ears with tales from the weekend.  Goose, on the other hand, was a different story.  She arrived in tears and clung to me.  She started by telling me about the crimes that her brother had just committed by pushing her out of the way to get to me, and ended with telling me about getting lost in the tunnels. 

My heart skipped a beat, and I calmed her enough to tell me about the tunnels.  From what I could piece together, there is an exhibit at the Science and Technology Museum that involves some slides or tunnels and Goose was in them, alone, and got lost.  She didn’t know where to go or what to do so she just stood there and cried til her brother found her.  Irrational me immediately thought about what sort of person would send a four year-old girl into the tunnels, alone, crying – likely for hours and finally sending a six year old deep inside to rescue her.  Willy. That terrible, horrible monster.

Rational me took over and I talked to her about how awesome it was that Woo looked out for her and how the tunnels were still such a fun place, and then waited to talk Willy about it later.  Sure enough, it wasn’t that big of a deal.  Goose had successfully navigated the tunnels once, she just got turned around. When Goose didn’t come out of the one slide (there were only two), Willy sent Woo down the path to the other slide while he waited at the bottom to make sure that she wasn’t alone when she did pop out.

The reality is that our lils are growing up, and we want them to be independent, so they are going to get stuck in tunnels occasionally.  She was fine, and it is not likely to have any sort of lasting impression.  I, on the other hand, need to make sure that it is the rational me that lets the lils go off into the tunnels of the world, knowing that they are going to get lost on occasion.  Getting lost is part of it.

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