Audrey and the Tooth Fairy

In addition to the power outage last week while Billy was gone, there were several other mishaps and frustrations.  Topping the list was when Thursday morning, after the kids and I were all dressed and ready to go, Audrey tripped walking down the stairs to the garage on her way to the car.  I was putting Barrett in the car, and just heard her start wailing.  I ran to her where she lay stomach down on the concrete floor.  Her mouth was full of blood.  While I talked to her to calm her down, I also ran into the house to get some paper towels.  After a couple of minutes, it was clear that the blood was from a tooth, not a lip.  Ugh.

Fortunately, our dentist opens at 7.  I had the number in my cell phone, and called at 6:55 right as we got on the Interstate.  They were open and told me to bring her straight there.  Score!  I was just approaching that exit, and I was there in less than 10 minutes.  After the dentist took some x-rays, the prognosis was that the tooth needed to come out.  I needed to get to work, and the dentist recommended we wait a couple of days to extract it to give Audrey some time to prepare herself.  I think he was also looking at me a little bit when he made that statement, and I readily admit I was not expecting my daughter to lose a tooth before lunch when I woke up that morning.  Honestly, I think Audrey handled it better than I did.  I was dreading trying to explain to her why that had to be done.  But, by the time we left school that day, she was telling me how cool it was that she was going to lose a tooth before she was even 5 and the tooth fairy was going to come to her house. 

So, today was the day.  Audrey went with her daddy to the dentist this morning.  15 minutes later they called me to assure me that Audrey had been brave and didn't cry. The dentist even gave her a little pink "treasure chest" to store the tooth in.   She was so excited, she had her teachers take a picture of her and send it to me at work.

Before

After

Billy and I never intended to keep up the rouse of the tooth fairy, just like we don't for Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.  However, given the trauma of the week and the fact that this myth played a part in her willingness to be brave and go through with the procedure, we are going to let it slide this one time.  When Audrey showed me her tooth in its chest tonight, I asked about putting it under her pillow.  She seemed reluctant, so I recommended she write the tooth fairy a note and ask if she could leave this one tooth after she looks at it, since it is the first one Audrey has lost.  She immediately ran downstairs and asked her dad to tell her which letters to write.  She was even more excited about that idea than I had anticipated.  So, tonight before she went to bed, Audrey tucked the note and the pink chest holding her tooth under her pillow, and I am sure she'll dream of tooth fairies all night.



Dear Tooth Fairy.  Please don't take my tooth.  Love Audrey AN

West County Observation #4

Having grown up in the country, I am fully aware that it is never completely dark outside in West County.  There are always street lights, store signs, stop lights, and more lit up any time the sun is set.  That is why it was so odd and unnerving this past Thursday when we lost power.  I happened to be working from home that day because the previous day, and when I work from home, I sit at our kitchen table and am facing a window that looks out to the west.  I saw the skies grow darker.  A cold front was moving in, and 10 minutes of heavy downpour was followed by very strong wind.  I could hear our house creaking and could see the trees in the neighboring yards bend and twist from its force.  About an hour after the rain, I noticed my computer was acting weird.  That's when I realized I didn't have an internet connection, and went into the office to investigate.  When I tried to turn on the light, it didn't work, and I realized we had no power.  When I left to pick up the kids about an hour after that, the skies were still lit by the sun. 

On the way home, I decided we'd go out to eat if we still had no power; there was no way this momma was going to make dinner in the dark (especially since Billy was out of town all week).  by the time I was nearing home after picking up the kids, the sun had set.  We drove past Plaza Frontenac, and it was completely black.  I must say that I am thankful for whatever power source continues to run the stoplights at major intersections when they have no power, because if it wasn't for that, I might have gone crazy.  We got into Kirkwood and saw a few stores with power, including a Pasta House Pronto, which is where we ended up eating.  Audrey expressed interest in tacos for dinner, so I was headed toward the Qdoba by West County Mall, but as soon as we passed into Des Peres, all power was off.  Everything except the stoplights on Manchester was dark.  The stretch of Manchester near the mall is always busy and never dark, so it created an eerie atmosphere.  When I realized there was no power at Qdoba, I decided to turn around and head back to the Pasta House.  However, turning around was a lot harder than I thought, because there was no light except my headlights.  I made probably a 15 point turn before I got back on Manchester headed in the opposite direction. 

When we finished dinner, our power was restored.  The well lit parking lots and store windows were all back to normal.  This experience did give me a deepened sense of how much I take for granted the amenities around us and took me back to my days in Bond County.  I am actually a little disappointed the power was on when we got home, because I wanted to show Audrey what it is like to use candlelight to do things around the house.  I guess I can always do that anyway, but it is much more likely when forced. 

Do-Re-Mi

The past couple of weeks, we have noticed that Barrett like to hum to himself.  Until this past weekend, we thought he was just making up songs.  This weekend, however, we came to realize that he is humming specific tunes.  And, thanks to his sister, his current tune of choice is Do-Re-Mi from the Sound of Music.  He can say "Do" very distinctly, and sometimes he makes out a "So."  All of the other words become mumbled or he just skips them altogether and hums.  The tune is distinct though.  I am pretty sure that a perfect stranger could figure out what song he has stuck in his head by listening to him.  It makes me smile to see him starting to enjoy music.  We're just going to have to teach him a few more songs so the rest of us maintain our sanity.