When Naomi was due for shots her 5-year old shots, I whispered in her ear that she never cried when she was a little baby, and she shouldn’t need to cry now she was a big girl. Of course, she didn’t cry. Charlotte is my timid one. I tried the same trick on her. She started crying and screaming before the nurse entered the room, truly afraid. I had to lay across her torso, while two nurses came to give her the shots extra quick.
Charlotte has now been going through the rite of passage where her teeth loosen and fall out. In keeping with her cowardly ways, she holds onto the tooth until it is barely hanging on by a thread. When over at mom’s house last week, Grandma offers her 1 dollar just to wiggle the tooth. You can see the gaping hole where it is completely unattached on the left side. The tooth had died, and had turned an unattractive brownish color. Mom was sure if she could just get one good wiggle, it would come out. She discovered that Charlotte gives you 3 seconds of barely touching her tooth before screaming in pain. Grandma had to cough up 1 dollar. The tooth was still in her mouth.
It was so unattractive, I offered Charlotte TWENTY dollars if she would just hold still and let me take it out then and there. “The offer is only good for right now, and I promise you $20 if you let me take it out.” Charlotte refused. Four days later, I grabbed her and pulled the tooth out – it was so unattached, there wasn’t even any bleeding.
The next night, the tooth fairy left Charlotte a dollar bill. The OTHER tooth fairy also left a dollar for Charlotte, deciding since the primary tooth fairy forgot to do so the night before, she would forget again. Charlie woke up, delighted with her two dollars, until she remembered the promise of $20. “Mom, how come the tooth fairy didn’t leave me $20?” “Well,” I reply “it was Mommy that offered $20 if you let me pull out your tooth at Grandma’s last week. You said no. The tooth fairy only pays $2. If you want to earn some money, you can work on cleaning your room today and helping with the dishes this week for two dollars.” “Okay Mom! I’d like a one dollar and a twenty dollar please!” I had to explain that two dollars does not mean two pieces of paper with the number of your choice on it.
We moved into the kitchen to prepare breakfast when Charlotte got her next money making idea. Holding her tooth fairy dollars and a pencil, she happily announces she knows what to do. “I’ll just change this 1 to a 20, and I will have $20!”
She’s pretty single-minded. It makes me laugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment