Tooth Fairy Time!

Exciting news in the Rowe household: Madeleine has lost her first tooth!

Apparently both my daughters were in a race to see who could lose their first tooth at a younger age.  They're at a near tie, with Madeleine crossing the finish line slightly ahead, being about four years and two months old, as opposed to Julia's four years and three months when she lost the very same tooth years ago.

At any rate, we put Madeleine's tooth in an envelope and put it under her pillow so that she can await her Tooth Fairy money.  In fact, Madeleine even decided to get REALLY ambitious in tooth fairy demands.

ME: So Madeleine, remember you have to check under your pillow in the morning to see if the Tooth Fairy left you a dollar!
MADELEINE: Yeah!  Because...I need to keep working on my PIGGY BANK money!  (thoughtful silence) Or...maybe the Tooth Fairy will leave me a TOY!

Nope.  Our tooth fairy isn't that extravagant.  Sorry.  Wait for Santa Claus for the toys.

After we had put the tooth envelope safely under Madeleine's pillow, we settled in for some snuggles and a bedtime song.  Since we're ALL ABOUT Christmas now that Thanksgiving is over (and Madeleine was all about Christmas even before Thanksgiving even came), I decided to sing her "Away in a Manger" for her lullaby.  The song prompted some important questions.

MADELEINE: Mama?  Why wasn't I there to see when Jesus died?
ME: Oh, well, because that all happened a long, long, long, long, long, long time ago, way before ANY of us were even alive.
MADELEINE: And Mama?  Was it even before DINOSUARS were on earth?
ME: No, dinosaurs were on earth even LONGER ago than Jesus.  Jesus was born after the dinosaurs were all extinct.
MADELEINE: And Mama?  Was he digging and digging?  For bones?

Yup.  That's what Jesus spent his time doing.  Digging for dinosaur bones.  Don't we all know the story of Jesus the famous Archaeologist?

After the lullaby had finished, Madeleine seemed to lull into a near sleep, but - NOPE - there were still more urgent discussions to be had.

MADELEINE: Mama?  I don't want to watch the FIRST Care Bears movie ever again, because...it was kind of really SPOOKY, like, when that TREE was trying to eat a little girl.  It really SPOOKED me out.  Like, I almost felt like I was a HORSE.  And Mama?  The mummy cat really spooked Julia out, and it kind of spooked me out a LITTLE BIT, but...I didn't feel like I was a HORSE.

I see.  I guess we have a new way to rate just HOW spooked out we are in this household.

-NOT SPOOKED OUT AND NOT FEELING LIKE A HORSE: Totally unafraid.
-SPOOKED OUT BUT NOT FEELING LIKE A HORSE: Feeling a little thrill of fear but still in an enjoyable way.
-SPOOKED OUT AND FEELING LIKE A HORSE: Totally, way over your head terrified.  Not good.


At any rate, Madeleine hasn't watched the first Care Bears movie in ages, so she was definitely not too spooked out and horsey to fall asleep tonight, and I look forward to getting even further into the holiday spirit tomorrow.  To all those of you preparing for the Christmas season, I hope you all get to, in the words of my daughters, "deck your halls with bells of folly" and enjoy a nice old "partridge a jingle bell tree!"