Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Night Maneuvers



     One thing you don’t usually learn about being a parent until it’s too late is the amount of time you’ll spend in the dark.
No, not the gloom caused by lack of knowledge, although you’ll encounter plenty of that. And I’m not referring to the diaper changing and feeding at 1 a.m. Nor do I mean the bad dreams you’ll erase and the monsters in the closet you’ll eradicate. ( Or in my case, the chilly dark hours spent in a nightgown and knee socks crawling around on all fours trying to find that crucial sleeping combo of pacifier, blanket, and stuffed animal.)

          As a parent you do your best to provide the Magic of Childhood. It wasn’t till I had kids that I realized how much of this involves flat-out lying. Of course there’s a bunny who’s going to bring you surprises tomorrow. And  - Let’s put out these cookies for Santa; he’ll be hungry tonight.

          But why do all these events take place at night? It’s not as though parents aren’t sleep deprived enough already without having to heave themselves off the couch after a long day and creep around filling stockings. Santa should show up at noon for good little boys and girls while they play outside, or perhaps he could appear after everyone has had a nice afternoon nap. 

          My youngest grandson is at the tooth-shedding stage and so last night out came the 40+ year-old tooth pillow. (Anyone who has spent ten to fifteen tired minutes in the dark feeling around under her child’s pillow for a tooth smaller than a garden pea will appreciate the value of a tooth pillow.)

          At my daughter’s house, the Tooth Fairy must have had a longer list of children to visit than usual because somehow he didn’t make it to Eli’s room. 
         Maybe he won't fall asleep  will have a shorter list tonight.

   

         

13 comments:

  1. I have a jar of baby teeth (don't ask) and I was trying to get my youngest granddaughter to give me her newly lost tooth instead of giving it to the tooth fairy for the dollar or so she would get. no, she wouldn't give it to me but she would sell it to me for $20. shook down by an 8 year old.

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  2. Sigh.
    I like (a lot) the idea of nothing happening until after an afternoon nap.

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    1. That should be a tenet for all of life generally.

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  3. I have never heard of a tooth pillow. I've heard of tooth glasses, sometimes filled with water, and tooth boxes, usually silver and highly decorated. My kids had the tooth in a glass of water routine which was handy for we tooth fairies as all our glasses were identical. All we had to do was sneak in there with another glass of water with a coin in the bottom and swap the glasses.

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  4. Oh yes, I remember those days well. Also fun was packing unassembled toys to take to grandma's house in another state. Even more fun was finding a way to get them back home after they'd been assembled. Didn't have Amazon Prime then to ship straight to grandma's.

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  5. Look at that adorable freckle-face! I'm SURE the fairy won't forget tonight.

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  6. What a cutie! What is the going rate for a tooth? We used to put ours in a glass of water too...not sure why? :)

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  7. I like the mischievous look on Eli's face. He's my kind of kid. I'm sure Grandma will all the good Christmas things done.

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  8. Oh, the tooth fairy was so forgetful at our house! We had a special tooth fairy "box" that would sit on the bed side table. That was so much easier than searching under a sleeping head. -Jenn

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  9. I had forgotten all about the Tooth Fairy. Now I have memories popping about those baby teeth in my past, my own and my children's. :-)

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    1. I know - I wonder what I did with them all. Did I callously throw them away? But is keeping them creepy?

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