The Ups and Downs of Parenthood

Ahhh... the journey of parenthood for me has been encapsulated all in one event... let me tell you the story....

We've waited for years (literally) for the tooth fairy to visit our house.  I kid you not.  In Kindergarten (nearly 2 years ago... as teeth were falling out of her classmates like autumn leaves...)... Phoebe's greatest wish was to lose a tooth.  She even put it on her wishing star project for class... it was in the forefront of her mind so often...

 

Then... fast forward to second grade... after all that waiting, there was finally a wiggly tooth.  It got played with and talked about incessantly.  It took over all conversations eventually...

And then... there was the EVENT.  Phoebe went to a sleepover birthday party on Friday night.  Mike and I, thinking it was a fine time to let Nora have our undivided attention, took her out to dinner.  When we got home, there were four messages on our answering machine... Phoebe had lost her tooth!  Luckily, though she lost it eating pizza, she did have the tooth... but when I talked to her she had hatched a plan to put the tooth under her pillow at her friends' house for the tooth fairy to come get it.  This stressed the mother out to no end... worried that she had to serve as an impromptu first-time tooth fairy.

Well, I told Phoebe that I would leave the tooth fairy a note asking her to come the following night at our house.  Phoebe agreed.  I was so sad (I know... don't tease me).  I felt like I was missing out on a rite-of-passage... she was losing her babyhood and it was happening without me (melodramatic?... maybe... have I mentioned before that I'm a dork?  You do know me...).  I cried.  Lucky for my fragile nature... just 30 minutes later... the phone rang... it was the friend's mother!  Phoebe had a headache and wanted to come home (bummer about the first part... yay for the second!).  Phoebe was home pretty quick and fell asleep even faster.  She was exhausted from the day's events... but I was happy about the tooth fairy!

The tooth fairy brought Phoebe a note... and basically said "Congratulations, you're growing up!".  She also brought a charm bracelet that will someday be filled with little pearls... mementos of each of the teeth Phoebe will lose, and the process of shedding the last of her baby-ness (sniff, sniff).

Now, keep in mind that I'd been planning this since Kindergarten also... I've been plotting and looking forward, every much as Phoebe has.  Phoebe woke in the morning to her treasures, and she called every family member she could think of, and she continued to be CRAZY excited!  YAY!  [Mom pats herself on back... all is turning out well... I got to see the tooth, see the kid, the tooth fairy came... whew!  Crisis averted!]

So, then imagine... how I felt when this kid came up to me after calling everyone she knew... and said "Mom, why didn't you and Dad do anything to celebrate me losing my first tooth?".

Um...