What the Tooth Fairy Forgot

There are so many sweet little moments that get lost as the days slip quickly past.

I wish I could push an imaginary “record” button every time one of my children says something cute, or as I listen to their imaginative play together when they don’t know that I am watching.

I wish that I remembered the “big picture” more often – that these memories are fleeting, and the time to make them is now.

One night last week, I woke Eva from a deep slumber to take her to the bathroom once more before I went to bed. In her groggy state she cried out emphatically, “I’m not comfortable with this!” and made me laugh so hard at her rather grown-up comment in such an odd context!

For the past two mornings, after Pedro and the girls have left for school, I have told Owen that it’s “snuggle time.” Today, he wanted “snuggle time” in his bed. It turned into a silly game of hiding under the covers, whispering “Shhh, shhh, don’t let anybody hear us!” and then throwing the covers off and yelling “Aaaarrrghhh!” at the top of our lungs. Anybody else would have thought we were crazy! - but to see his megawatt smile and hear his laughter was absolutely worth it.

Over the weekend, the three kids played so nicely together. They would gather around three small chair on the back patio, and Eva would invariably hold Daisy like a baby in her arms (she even took her for a stroll in the doll stroller a time or two!) Then they would have these adult conversations about going to church, or school, or taking an airplane ride together. It was so refreshing to see them enjoying one another’s company in such simple ways. It warmed my heart!

Last night, we had such a good time laughing around the dinner table as a family. It didn’t start out as a funny meal, since grocery shopping had run late and everyone was hungry and grumpy by the time we sat down to eat at close to 8 PM! But then Eva’s top front tooth became the subject of close scrutiny, as it was very loose and hanging at an awkward angle while she ate. She tried pulling it, twisting it, and moving it around with her tongue, all to no avail. Then suddenly she took a bite, and it was gone! We thought she must have swallowed it, and we took turns gawking over the big gap that remained. The kids were so giddy about that! And then Isabel took it upon herself to crawl around on the kitchen floor long after we’d given the tooth up for lost, and she found it! She was so proud of herself, and everyone was so excited to examine the tooth, that it was just plain fun.

This morning, Eva announced that the “Tooth Fairy” had forgotten about her tooth! She knows and we know that there really is no such person, but we still like to have fun imagining, so we told her that since she lost it so late at night the Tooth Fairy must not have had time to make it all the way to Chile! But as I thought about What the Tooth Fairy Forgot, I also reflected on how easy it is to forget all of these simple, special moments - and I don’t want to do that. The Tooth Fairy may forget, but *I* am going to try and remember …