Toofie Toots

Dear Henny, 
Since just before your 5th birthday your mouth has been under construction.  You've lost five teeth!  First fell your bottom 4, ole number 1 made its appearance at 19 weeks.  

Two of the bottom have been replaced by some bigger teeth your little boy mouth can hardly contain, crowding out number 3 and evicting number 4, which we sadly lost on the car floor and before looking for it I took the rare occasion to vacuum my car...poor toothy.  No worries.  You had yet to put 1-3 (and 4 in spirit) under your pillow because I had not finished the tooth pillow you designed and requested I make.  When number 5 started hinging straight out I got off my butt and finished off tooth dino-dragon and you placed three safely inside.  Sometime in the middle of the night I heard a, "AAGGA!"  This was soon followed by, "YES!" proceeded by foot steps down the hall proclaiming, "The tooth fairy came!"  We read the note to you and you were excited over the 2 dollar bill, and the dollar coin and that your tooth fairy was notified by the car wash place and retrieved number 4 and left an additional dollar bill.  The note was signed, Wanda!  Such excitement this brought you.  When you returned from school I asked if you told anyone and you said you did, even both lunch ladies!  This morning number 5 was barely hanging in there and before leaving for school we HAD to get it out.  You readied the toothfloss and the remote control car and I tied it on...and one, two....three! POP! It flipped to the floor. Done.  

At the grocery this evening you told the young check out guy, "I lost my tooth, see!"  He said, "Cool little dude."  I asked him what his tooth fairy's name is...and you piped up, "Mine is Wanda."  He said his was always anonymous.  So, tonight you cozied it away, being thoughtful, you left it at the edge of your bed and pillow.  A new note awaits you as does a two dollar bill.  Hopefully this part won't be disturbing to you because while you're learning to read, by the time you're capable of reading this post it won't spoil anything...but I am in fact Wanda the tooth fairy.  Wanda was a name Bahboo use to call me.  I don't know why, he just did.  I think it means he thought I was a lil wacky.  This is a fun little game and I am sorry that "Wanda" was busy and didn't come sooner, but at this rate your teeth are going to keep coming and you'll have a big boy mouth in no time.  For now, I enjoy the goofy lil face you have with your lil smile.  

I showed you the other two pictures and you thought you looked pretty goofy, too.  You cracked yourself up for a few solid minutes. At dinner tonight you were talking and I nudged Daddy...just too much cuteness. I took a mental snapshot.

I love you growing boy.
Love, Mama

Do You Notice Anything Different?...a tale of transitions

Dear Sir Henry Thompson, 
I use sir to commemorate your transition from big boy (a term often used for little boys that insist on feeling bigger) to just boy.  A couple of weeks ago while brushing your teeth you mentioned that your two bottom teeth hurt.  I sort of looked and dismissed it as I saw nothing and you weren't real descriptive on where or how it was hurting.  A few nights ago you mentioned some pain there again.  I had you open wide and I jumped back, aghast when I touched your toothies and they moved!  I had a sick pit in my stomach.  Sour and flippy as I hadn't yet put together the pieces that you are, in fact, almost five and it is perfectly normal for your teeth to wiggle.  When I passed along this new information to you there was a nervous smile and a hint of excitement.  I was encouraging you to give it a wiggle several times a day.  You decided you needed to prepare a little something to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy once it fell out, hopeful tooth fairy would leave behind some money.   You settled on a sea slug with a pocket on its side (pictures to come).  I don't know why a sea slug but you did, choosing the fabrics carefully. I put it together yesterday.  Today I tried to finish while you painted some rocks and Hazel contently drew on herself with marker.  With some consistent wiggling, by this evening it was clear toothy was begging to come out. 

Daddy and I were discussing how it was loose enough that it needed to come out before bed so you didn't swallow it.  Daddy suggested we get your stomp rocket, tie one end of a string to the rocket and the other to the escaping offender and stomp on that rocket to finish the deed.  The very second you were reacting to Daddy's proposal, one more wiggle knocked it out.  Here is your reaction... 

You had nervously excited smiles and said you felt like quite the boy.  As you washed your hands you leaned in and asked us if we, "Noticed anything different." haha

Your level of excitement culminated into a serious dance session after dinner.  Your most recent dance moves are both entertaining and indicative of your boundless energy.   Transitioning just like that to the next phases of development, with such ease!?  Mommy stood next to Daddy and cried for a minute.  Daddy thought I was being a tad silly but he was feeling a little funny as well, especially after I shared that you asked questions about kindergarten today.  You're excited about the cafeteria.  Sigh...You are growing away from us, and this is what we want.  I think you'll certainly have independence down by age 18...but as you promised as a little boy and I hope you remember as a boy, don't forget about Mommy and Daddy.  -Until I finish sea slug tooth holder we needed to find a safe place for toothy.  You decided the Sponge Bob Lego set we put together last Saturday would suffice as a holding spot.  

Yep, you're putting together Lego sets now, too.  This is a rite of passage of its own. 

We love you buddy.  We love you.  
Love, Mama

For a look at your first tooth at 19 weeks click here http://www.thethompsonbaby.blogspot.com/2009/07/tah-tah-toothie.html

Be Gone Goats and Ducks! PS! Please Cancel the Tooth Fairy

Henry after his 3rd haircut! It was long!

Dear Mama's Tuff Guy, 
I seem to remember previously writing about your newly developing fears, but just in case I couldn't allow it to go unannotated.   We still frequent our library once a week.  In the last month you've been really getting excited over the bigger books with more text, more story, and more information.  You love to pick out books or allow the librarian to pull some for us.  On this particular loaner book batch you loved the book by David Shannon, Duck on a Bike.  This story opens with a spunky duck that sees a bike in the barnyard.  He decides to give it a try and rides through the barnyard showing off his riding abilities.  The other animals make various comments about that duck on a bike until a gang of kids come riding through the barnyard to visit the house.  The other animals decided to ride the bikes while the kids are gone.  Seems like an interesting choice for a kid that loves books with animals until we read it about 20 times...and that 21st read sparked at fear of the goat.  You were sitting up next to Daddy as he read it to you and as the page turned to the goat you started trembling and crying your eyes out.  You didn't sleep in your bed for a week because, "Dat goat been knockin' on my window!" and, "I saw that cow and horse flying on the ceiling."  After a week of ending up in our room I decided to take a small pump spray of all natural room freshener and told you it was "goat spray."  If I spray it three times around your room and say, "GOAT BE GONE!  GOAT GO HOME!"  Goat in fact will not come to knock on your window.  Alas you returned to your regular habits at bed time.  Until this week when the Tooth Fairy joined the bunch on your scary list.  After reading Squirrelly Grey, by James Kochalka.  Squirrelly looses his front two teeth and when Tooth Fairy comes to take the teeth she is caught in a spider's web.  Because Squirrelly helps her out she gives him a magic nut for his teeth.  

The magic nut helps him get Hungry Fox away from him and creates a rainbow to color his gray world.  It is pretty much about do good and good comes to you, karma.  We saw a problem with this book the first read through when you asked Daddy to not allow the tooth fairy to come into Henny's room.  We explained that she only comes when you loose a tooth and if Mommy and Daddy should call her.  This helped for 10 minutes then I was on an elaborate hoaxed phone call to cover up the hoaxed lady that takes teeth in your sleep.   I told, "Ms. Tooth Fairy that Henry would really rather you not come right now to see him."  As I talked on and on you stared at me and bobbed you head making sure my words were conveying the depth of your desire to never see Ms. Tooth Fairy in your room.  I was convincing enough that Daddy whispered, "Who did you call?"  You've stated all day that the Tooth Fairy is a nice lady trying to reassure yourself.   At the conclusion of our night time rituals that night the spray came out and you snuggled into your blankets and asked with heart delievered from an earnest raised brow, "Mommy, Don't be afraid of that goat or the tooth fairy."   Thanks, baby for the concern but I am okay. 
Love, Mama