The Tooth Fairy

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, out. The tooth fairy has been very busy in our house lately. On Friday afternoon, just before Auntie Sis left town, Zahra's loose tooth came out. Here she is, above, gently wiggling it out.

And here she is, seconds later, with a fresh new gap in the front. For some reason, her expression here reminds me of a pirate. I can almost picture her saying "Argh!" while she squints.

Then, a couple days later, the tooth right next to the first one, was also loose. This one didn't come out as easy. She wiggled it for two days. Then, finally, when she was doing a somersault on the living room floor (which she refers to as a "tuck-and-roll"), it just popped out. I took some pictures of her with the new gap while I had her helping me to marinate some chicken. She's in a stage now where she is usually happy to assist with things, so she thought marinating the chicken was great fun. She got to pour out the marinade into the casserole dish and then she especially liked using the fork to poke holes in the meat. When we were finished, her excited comment to me was, "Mom! Chicken is fun!"

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The big toothless gap. Some kids seem to be embarassed by the new look (I think Auntie Sis mentioned that I wasn't fond of it), but Zahra is happy to show off her gap. She's also quite excited about being visited by the tooth fairy. Auntie Sis gave her a book about the tooth fairy which came with a little tin to put the tooth in under the pillow. Zahra has a lot of fun putting the tooth in the special little tin and then looking for the money that the tooth fairy left in the morning. It's really special to watch her light up when she talks about being visited by something magical. Ah, the joys of observing the innocence of youth.

Happy wishes, little girl.