Thursday, August 25, 2011

Just like that


Yesterday a string of events forced me to realize the inevitable. My little Aweeey is growing up.
It started with a back-to-school meeting with just us and her new teacher.
She was so elated and drew a picture for her. She also wanted to bring her a flower but needed to find out her teacher's favorite color first. (She's very thoughtful.)
Everything went wonderful and her teacher is very sweet. She showed Avery the classroom then quizzed her a bit and Avery willingly showed off her sounding out skills, that's my girl!
When it was all over and we walked out of the school Avery and I just stood there side-by-side with one arm around her. Excited but stunned and with out saying a word we knew what the other was thinking. She is growing up.


Then, just like that, her first tooth was loose. Quincey was running around saying, "her looth is toose!" It was quite a dramatic episode which gave me a glimpse of the teenage years to come.
First, there was some much-needed reassuring from Dad that another "big" tooth will grow in. Next, we tried numerous techniques to get it out but decided to tell her to "wiggle" it out... so she started wiggling her hips. Not quite. haha.
A little while later, and lots of tears, she came running excitedly with her tiny tooth! I grabbed my camera and we took a couple pics. Then she wanted to show Dad that she'd lost her tooth and the next thing we know she literally lost it- outside. That's when I started searching for the tooth on my hands and knees like I'd lost the diamond from my ring. But no luck. There was talk of painting a rock white for the Tooth Fairy. heehee But we explained to her that the Tooth Fairy would find it outside.
The next big question: what do Tooth Fairies leave these days? Do I slip an ipad under her pillow or is a quarter still acceptable? ;) Late that night, Collin and I snuck coloring books under each of their pillows sprinkling a little fairy dust in our tracks and just like that, she's growing up.
The End.

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51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bittersweet!! My son lost his first tooth too! We lost it at the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown NY, in the grass. We looked, it seemed, for an hour. We gave up. The tooth Fairy gave him $5 (only because the tooth fairy didn't have anything smaller).

EmmaJ said...

Is that when kids start losing their teeth? It seems so young. I used to get a $1, my sister who is 5 years younger than me got $5, and our youngest sister (8 years my junior) got $10... and that was about $15 years ago. We had a generous tooth fairy.

charity said...

Oh I love this post. I can't believe she is starting kindergarten! I miss being close by.

Carol said...

that's so cute! just remember, whatever you start is what you'll need to stick with ;) they remember! we give $10 for the first tooth and $5.00 for the rest. We don't pay an allowance so we splurge a bit on that ;) It's actually a cute idea for the tooth fairy to leave a little something for everyone on the first tooth....like a celebration! Have fun! These are the little things that make parenting so fun ;)

Ellie said...

OH Love it :) It amazes me how time super flies by. My oldest will be turning 13 in less then a mth and I keep saying how is that possible.. Love the idea of fairy dust although we have carpet so that wouldn't work too well Ha.. SIGH.... I still have my other 2 whom I can make fairy dreams come true she always leave a gift cert. to get a free ice cream cone :)

Maili said...

Avery reminds me so much of my little girl! Sun kisses and all {that's what we call her freckles} Maddy is starting Kindergarten this next Monday- and it truly is a bittersweet thing. I am SO excited for her to learn all the new and fun things school has to offer.. but I am so sad! She isnt my little baby anymore!! Maddy is missing her 4 teeth in the front {not by choice!-silly dentist} I think the fairy dust is such a cute idea- for all 4 teeth I, er the tooth fairy gave her $5 {it's all the tooth fairy had on her!} :) How fun!

DeniseZ said...

It's been a LONG time since the tooth fairy visited us, but I do seem to remember...loose teeth are often lost in the evening. Or at night. When you don't have a buck or two in your wallet, you're the only adult home and it's too late to run out. So the tooth fairy learned to have a stash of special coins or bills on hand here for those occassions!

Also learned that it's best not to have the tooth-loser hide the tooth under the pillow--or in my daughter's case...IN the pillowcase! It makes for an ugly scene late at night with the tooth fairy trying to wrestle the pillow out of the sleeping child's clutches to retrieve the tooth. LOL! Tooth fairy suggested we leave it in an envelope--or later in the special "tooth" box we got--and place it on the dresser. She'll find it! She always does!

Wait til she starts bargaining with the tooth fairy and writing her notes asking her to leave her a prize AND the tooth! Fun memories!

AesaLina Compton said...

sigh. they are only babies for so long!

Danielle said...

Our tooth fairy leaves gold $1 coins. The kids love them because they are not something they see everyday. Enjoy!

Rachel M said...

They grow up so quickly! Ooh it makes me feel old saying that! lol

value homes said...

Its so cute...even i was so amazed when my daughter faced her first interaction with her school teacher.She surprised us all .And I proudly said thats my girl...

michib said...

my almost 7 year old just lost his first tooth too! although it has been loose for 3 weeks, he just isn't a wiggler, so it hung on for awhile. We were wondering about the going rate for the tooth fairy - I had some tell me $2 or $1 - she ended up leaving $5 since it was the first tooth.
I saw my youngest put on a backpack to take to daycare the other day and I had visions of him getting on the school bus and heading off to school (which he will do in a few weeks) and realized he's growing up and not my baby anymore :(

Beatriz said...

What a funny-sweet story :) Avery is growing so fast Liz! And she's becoming a beauty, congratulations for your beautiful family (I still think Lola looks exactly as a little cute Collin girl, eheheh!)
Huges,

Bea ;)

Ute L. said...

You better ask the mothers of her friends, what they get. She will not understand the Tooth Fairy when she gets $1 and her friends get $5. Hopefully she not find the tooth later.

Emily Frame said...

avery looking into her classroom window?! tears.
she's so big!

Anonymous said...

That first picture got me <3 So sweet!
Such excitement yesterday!
I have so many teeth I dont even know whos is whos anymore ;)
When the tooth fairy visits us, she leaves one dollar, and thats it! Sometimes she forgets...but the only explanation for her forgetting has to be because so many other little kids lost a tooth the same day, and she had a busy night, and she WILL visit the next night! Haha =)

They do grow up so so fast...dont blink!

Renee Zwirek said...

So hard to deal with your kids growing up. My daughter started first grade and is now going to school full-time. It's tough. I'm not okay with this growing up stuff yet...I need more time. Ha! Congrats to the Big Girl for the loose tooth (I like the way she says it better). For the first tooth, we did $10. For the rest, it's $5. (We don't do the allowance thing yet.) Have a great weekend coming up.

Tammie said...

It seems that I blinked on the first day of kindergarten and he was suddenly graduating high school...sweet memories indeed, only made bittersweet by how fast the years fly by! Beautiful post.

Mauri said...

I just sent my oldest off to junior high this week and it broke my heart that she is growing up so fast. I just want to freeze my family at the ages they are right now. The tooth fairy is a bit stingy in our house. :) I'm not one of those $5 tooth people. Sometimes we will just put a handful of change under their pillows and let them have the joy of counting it up. My one son swallowed his first tooth. He wrote a little note to the tooth fairy and left it under his pillow. The funny thing is, he swallowed his second tooth too!

Kat said...

My parents never did the whole "money under a pillow" bit - we always left the tooth in a cup of water in the kitchen and in the morning there would be a loonie instead of a tooth! I guess it only works if you have coin, not $1 bills :)

LoriLou said...

Tears in my eyes reading your post, knowing exactly how you feel, realizing my own babies are growing up in the blink of an eye. You wish you could stop time, and yet you love seeing how they grow and who they become.

Wendy said...

So precious...I know you will, but be SURE to enjoy every moment with these sweet girls.

Missy in SC said...

We give $5 for the first tooth and they get $1 gold coins for each tooth after. This is a huge hit. Just go to the bank and stock up, because you never know when one will come out. My youngest lost a tooth on vacation at the beach this summer. It was Sunday so all the banks were closed and no stores had gold dollars. We gave a silver dollar with a note saying that a gold coin was waiting at home under his pillow.It worked. For the first teeth, I had them write notes to the tooth fairy asking is she would leave the tooth (for me to scrapbook of course- with the note- so cute.)

janis m. said...

awww- my dds just started 7th and 5th grade- almost out of the sweet elemetary school, it goes too fast! I know I don't have to tell you to take lots of pictures, but feel I must. I even snuck into the middle school to takes pics on the first day of school yesterday so my dd could "smash" them!!
the tooth fairy left $5 for the 1st tooth for each of our dds, and was creative with neat $1 coins, money from mexico, etc, for the next lost teeth, but the funny thing is that my dds have not put a tooth under their pillow in years- they now want to keep their teeth. go figure!

Anonymous said...

My son is 6 and lost his first tooth this past April. Before I could say something, his dad mentioned that the tooth fairy left a toonie ($2) - my idea: mini lego figures. Maybe we'll try that for the next ones that pop out.

Genevieve said...

Well, I totally feel like I got ripped off. My folks only ever coughed up a quarter when I lost my teeth, fifty cents for a bigger one, if you were lucky! How exciting! Don't let the fact that she's growing up scare you! Enjoy every moment!

Andrea said...

Oh man...this makes me want to cry. We are going to this same one on one kindergarten meeting on Monday. Eek!

Carla said...

awwww!!! I have a six and eight year old so I'm a pro at the tooth fairy! Kids love coins more than dollars. Do a bag of quarters or silver dollars...my kids loved the silver dollars! I, er the tooth fairy, leaves 3-5 dollars

Connie B said...

WOW! School already! Well, around here, the toothfairy leaves $2 bills because they are somewhat special right?!

DeAnna Allan said...

How exciting!! My son is starting kindergarten in the fall, and I'm thinking one of his bottom teeth is getting loose, it looks like it's shifting position a little. I remember losing my first tooth - on the way home from a sleepover, I was walking alone (a few blocks), it had just started to snow, and voila, my tooth was gone. No idea if I swallowed it or if it fell out. I backtracked and looked for it but never did find it. In Canada leaving coins is pretty easy since our $1 and $2 currency are coins (affectionately called Loonies and Twonies - the Loonie came first and is so called because of the loon on the front...).

Bonnie said...

Got a lump reading this...brought back memories...(not too long ago!) They DO grow so fast... It's so sad but also kind of wonderful at the same time!
PS had to laugh at the ipad thing!
I hear these days it's a voucher to Disney world! *wink*

So.Creative said...

Such beautiful pics, such lovely girl and such wonderful story you told us!

Kristy Hansen said...

My 2nd daughter swallowed her loose tooth in a cupcake......there was no getting it back. We wrote a letter to the tooth fairy explaining the situation. In the end the tooth fairy left $1 with a note saying it was all okay. Her dad works in a jewelry store-so he took her 2nd tooth and put a cap on it with a ring at the top and she was able to wear it on a necklace. That was great for a few days--now it is safely tucked away in my jewelry box for someday...ksh

Linda said...

Truly bittersweet, my words that I used two years ago when my daughter started Kindergarten. She was so excited to go and the second week of school when I was there to have lunch before volunteering in her classroom, she excitedly ran up to me in the lunchroom "Mommy, my tooth is loose!" I couldn't believe it! She started Kindergarten, and this tremendous rite of passage in the same month? How could it be? She had just turned five in July. Sure enough, I wiggled her tooth with my shirt (hate germs) and it was loose. When class resumed, there I was holding back tears while looking at her smiling face, I told her I would grab a coffee before it was my turn to help out. Then I promptly left school and grabbed a cup, called my sister and cried. Feeling much better, I went to her classroom. . . Enjoy these days, they go by so quickly. She starts 2nd Grade after Labor Day and can't wait to look inside her desk that swings up. Indeed, starting 1st Grade she was so psyched to get to swing open her desk, they didn't have that in Kindergarten! Enjoy those small moments, because they are the ones that really matter.

Deb said...

There is a children's story, One Morning in Maine by Robert McKlosky that is Avery's exact story. The little girl, Sal, makes a wish on her missing tooth. It is a sweet story that Avery would enjoy.

Tiffany said...

So sweet Liz. How exciting for Avery to begin Kindergarten and lose her first tooth. She really is getting so big. Madi has her K orientation today. So excited for her and sad for me. Blessings!

Laurie LaRiviere said...

in our house the tooth fairy left $5 for first tooth and $1 for all the rest of the teeth...I know what you mean about them growing up just like that...watched my son walk out the door to the bus heading for HIGH SCHOOL! and my daughter walking through the doors of middle school looking all diva like with her big hair flower and a little lipgloss on...it's crazy how fast they grow and how we have to learn to let go sometimes...at least I have my little guy at home with me still, he's 3 1/2, but even he can't wait to go to school!

Anonymous said...

My oldest daughter wore that skirt her first day of school! Too cute!
And when she started losing her teeth she was learning about money so the tooth fairy left a handful of change...more of anything is better than one & a math lesson the next morning! When people ask what she got from the tooth fairy you get some interesting looks when she responds...my first tooth I got $1.41 & my 2nd tooth I got 62 cents!

Anonymous said...

beautiful heart tugging post! she is a beautiful lil girl...just like her mommie! i hope she loves school and that her teacher will know what a special little munchkin she has in her class. we still have our daughters tooth fairy pillow...it is so precious! loooooves those days and yep they fly by. big hugs to you - Donna Tullis

Unknown said...

It happens all to fast that is for sure! We give 50 cent pieces or gold dollars depending on the tooth... that way its special... not something the see everyday... and they tend to save them....
Love the color books and fairy dust idea!!! My daughter lost both bottom teeth last year in Kindergarten... not in first..her big tooth is loose... I'm sure it will fall out the day before picture day with my luck...LOL

Unknown said...

Oh yeah... and she lost both of them... no bother to look for them... she swallowed them! I remember she was so worried the tooth fairy won't come....I told her the fairy always knows its her job.

DeeDee said...

How exciting for Avery! Meeting her teacher and loosing her first tooth! For my DGD,The tooth fairy leaves glitter from her wings under the pillow along with a dollar gold coin. Sometimes she leaves 2 of the coins. But always different color glitter from her wings. Makes it more fun! DD lost her first tooth down the drain in the bathroom sink. She came running and crying to daddy. My tooth my tooth daddy you have to get my tooth! Yes daddy took the pipes apart and found the tooth! That first tooth is in her scrapbook now! Just think of all the first yet to come for Avery....and Q-bear and Lola....Isn't being a mommy the best thing everrrrrrr? I love reading your blog. Thanks for sharing it! I can't wait to read what comes next!

Leigh Penner said...

My son, Jonah was at the beach and bit into a piece of puffed wheat cake, which made his loose tooth fall out. He promptly spit it out, but then we couldn't find the tooth in the sand! We were going to use a tooth-like rock as a substitute, but then I suggested taking a picture as proof for the tooth fairy. She left him a toonie (a $2 coin.) ;)

Anonymous said...

My daughter gets a silver dollar from the tooth fairy. Exciting stuff!!!

Unknown said...

she is darlin.

zuzia620 said...

its nice to know iM NOT alone feeling this "special " sadness:)time flies way to fast

Elizabeth {sunny bug} said...

Oh my! I'm tearing up because I can so relate to the little ones growing up. My "little one" will be 13 this year and she's about to head right into middle school...you know, with all of the big kids. When did this happen? :)

Brittany said...

OMG! My son lost his first--and second--tooth this week too! I cried. Watching them grow is so bittersweet.... (btw, he got a $2 bill for his first tooth, $1 for every tooth thereafter....)

Anonymous said...

Awww I've been reading your blog for a long time and it seems crazy to see you talking about her going off to school. Time just flies by doesn't it? : ) Well congrats even though I'm sure this is a bittersweet moment. By the way I think I say it all the time but I love your book and I hope someday you'll do another.
: )

Natalie
www.projectdowhatyoulove.wordpress.com

Carly said...

Love the idea of capturing all the "little" moments. Our toothfairy always leaves a brand new TOOTHBRUSH,a special coin for saving (gold $1,1/2 dollar,$2 bill etc.)and a few dollars for spending. Sometimes she will leave a little trial size toothpaste too. And of course fairy dust under the pillow-that is my dd's favorite part! The T.F. is a VERY big deal in our house. Such an exciting time in a childs life!

BTW-not sure if this is where I should ask but is the SHADES OF SUMMER over? I was all signed up for the second year now & still never received them :(.

boho chic said...

I just sent mine off to her first day of high school. Trust me, in the blink of an eye they are all grown up.