What is it about?

The rollercoaster adventures of parenting three kids, dealing with disability and mental health - and discussing disability discrimination and how to tackle it.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

The Tooth is Out

This morning was THE morning. Mister Determined's wobbly tooth is out, and he's got himself a nice smile with a gap, and a small new adult tooth behind it. Only trouble is, we can't find the tooth.

Mister D. had a bad dream last night, and came to our bed. I was sharing it with Boo Boo, who was also having teething trouble, and kept waking up in the night, so Hubby went to sleep in his other bed and I kept Boo Boo with me - no point both of us having to wake up all night. So at three this morning, Mister D. joined us. It took him a while to settle back into sleep - he had to come down from his bad dream, and then he realised that his tooth was out. We tried to find it this morning, either in his bed, or in mine, or somewhere in between, but it is gone. He must have swallowed it in his sleep, which he things exceptionally cool, especially when he things about how it will come out. Don't worry, I'll spare you the toilet humour.

This reminds me, I've had to tell the boy about Santa. You see, last week he had a bad dream one night (yes, it's that season again, it comes with being over-tired) and was very worried that the Tooth Fairy would come into his room in the night to take his wobbly tooth and leave money (I mean, it really is a strange thing to tell our kids if you think about it). He doesn't like the idea of someone coming into his room in the night that is not Mum or Dad - and quite rightly so, I'd say. His Oma Ineke told him a while ago that the Tooth Fairy is not real, and that it's just Mum exchanging the tooth for money. But see, here was his predicament. He wanted to trust me that there is no Fairy, and no none can come into our house without having a key or us letting them in.

But then, he asked me, what about Santa?

Fair question.

Let me tell you a secret, I replied, and told him that Santa too was not real. I explained that we commemorate the good deeds of a Bishop Saint Nicholas who lived a long time ago, etc. etc. He wasn't so sure at first, until he understood that all those Santa's he sees are people dressed up. You have to remember, we were having this conversation in the middle of the night. But dressing up, now that is a concept he can understand!

So Mister Determined feels himself a big dude now. He knows about Santa. He knows about the Tooth Fairy. And he's got a big tooth. This morning, he was checking his hands "to see if I've got wrinkly skin yet"!

And Possum, you may wonder? Of course I told Mister D. that the info on Santa was a secret he wasn't to tell other kids. Of course, the first thing Mister D. did that morning was tell his little brother, and his whole class, that Santa isn't real. I don't know what the kids in his class did (sometimes I would love to be a fly on the wall at school) but Possum just shrugged his shoulders - and decided to ignore it.

He just doesn't want to know about it. I love it.

1 comment:

fabig said...

Hi,
A real kids reaction of a secret. And concerning Possum, also a typical reaction for him.
Yes all those secrets around Santa and Eastern rabbit for the kids.
Helma