The Tooth Fairy vs Teething

Baltic Amber Teething Necklace $24

Teething is no fun for anyone. The bub suffers and screams and squirms. There is drooling and rashes and fevers and erupting gums. Seriously, who thought of this? It’s barbaric.

I’m really not sure about anything working – from Amber necklaces to Ambesol, but the mush bags with frozen berries are a mess and a stain waiting to happen. The attack on the nipple is over the top and the fussiness and sleep regression suck for kids, parents, neighbours… everyone.

But the second time around, it’s so much more fun! I love the 5 and 6 year old wiggly teeth.

The big first tooth lost!

They’re so excited when they get a wiggler. I love it when they let me give it a little jiggle. They’re so excited when they lose one. We have the Tooth Fairy App in fact. It lets us call the Tooth Fairy to leave a message when there’s a wiggler so that she knows to expect a tooth collection soon – and then we call and leave another message when it’s ready to put under the pillow.

The Tooth Fairy, it would seem, should have those little enamel treasures trading on the open market based on what the going rate for lost teeth is these days. We’ve discussed it with friends, and it seems somewhere between $10-$20 for the first tooth and then $5-$10 for subsequent teeth. In fact, one of my sons coerced the Tooth Fairy into leaving him toys.

Before that could get too out of control we sat down with them and discussed what goal they could save for – LEGO. They want LEGO. With 20 teeth to lose at $5-$10 a tooth, they’ll be able to afford whatever they want!

Mamas, daddies – it gets better. Teething is short but painful, yes – but it will be over soon. The stress of trying to remember to keep a stash of $5 bills at home and then wake up in the middle of the night to sneak one under a pillow is nuts. I mean, I finally get to sleep through the night and then have to remember to do this. The time I forgot – just slept through the night – the look on his face in the morning when he realized that the Tooth Fairy forgot about him was just brutal. It’s like having to cover for Santa or the Easter Bunny – you just can’t mess with this magic, even though it messes with your sleep.

My mom used to take a little piece of fabric, fill it with coins and slide it under my pillow. She left the tooth there too. I would get a great little wad of coins and save my tooth in a box. I still have that little box of baby teeth. It’s pretty gross and I don’t ever dig it up to look at them. I just can’t bring myself to toss them, but yuck. I don’t want my kids’ teeth either. I put them in plastic baggies under their pillows and then leave them there when I drop off their fiver. I wonder what they’ve been doing with them – it’s kind of strange, but I actually just don’t want to know!

Have to admit, they look kind of funny – a mix of cute and weird – as their little faces stretch to accommodate the big new teeth, but it’s exciting. Good luck with the teething!

EDITED TO ADD:

Who knew? I just read this great article. Apparently, teeth area  great source of stem cells. Keep your little one’s teeth! I can’t imagine it’s exactly on a par with cord blood banking, but there is a definite benefit for stem cells. Read more here.