Karamea's First Tooth

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that Karamea was getting her first tooth. It made its appearance earlier than we expected when Karamea was four months old, and it took us by surprise again when it recently started wiggling. I was so taken aback, I decided to share the development on facebook:

"I am in mommy-shock. My 4 1/2 year old has her first loose tooth. WHAT?!?! This took me completely by surprise...I guess it is time to figure out tooth fairy protocol. Yikes!"

In anticipation of the big event, I've been talking to her some about what will happen: explaining that her new tooth will grow in where the old one fell out, that it might bleed a little, but that is normal and nothing to be worried about, and then I told her about the tooth fairy coming to take the tooth away and leave her some money. 

Later, when Mark was putting the girls to bed, she told him that we would need to call someone soon about her tooth. Mark reassured her, saying that we don't have to call the doctor or dentist, that this is normal and it is OK, and then she explained further, "No, you will need to call the tooth FARRIER."

OH. The whole time I was talking about the tooth fairy, she thought I was talking about a farrier. (The girl is slightly obsessed with horses.) So Mark explained that the tooth fairy is like Tinkerbell, not someone who puts shoes on horses.

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Fast forward almost two weeks to this Monday, when, after much wiggling and questioning from her parents, Karamea  runs out of the bathroom while brushing her teeth exclaiming, "My tooth came out!" 

She was pretty excited, and asked me if I was going to call the tooth fairy to tell her. At first I told her that I would text her instead, and then decided to go with the traditional, "The tooth fairy just knows when she needs to come and get your tooth." We wrapped the tooth in a tissue and put it in a small cloth jewelry bag under her pillow. The next morning, she had a gold dollar!

Since she is still just a little over four and a half, she is the first among kids her age to have lost a tooth, and it took a day or so to sink in that this is a really cool milestone. She was so excited to tell her preschool class about it on Wednesday!