Charlotte and the Tooth Fairy

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.

Technology - Seriously, can it slow down and let me catch up already?

Yes, it's been a while since my last posting.  I figure I'm good if I can make it twice a year - Can't blog more often than I go to the temple, right?

We recently hired a new CEO over at the non-profit company.  He's only a few years older than myself, and unlike me, been keeping up with the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos.  He's convinced Gordon that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are a "must have" for our office.  So, in addition to my other duties, I have been assigned the task of getting us set up.  Believe me, I'm really getting discouraged with the whopping 36 people who like our company.  It's been stuck there for a month.  I may have to start making up people and have them liking us online - or begging non-dental friends to like us (facebook.com/GordonJ.Christensen) ;)

The problem is our core group of clients are older, and don't mess around with some of these newer social media formats.

In the meantime, just so I don't screw things up and put something into cyberspace wrong, never to be deleted again, I loaded up videos of Naomi's theatrical endeavors on YouTube while I was learning how to do our work videos.

Utah Pioneer Program
Rich, Rich, Rich - Pirate Treasure Island
Sailing Away - Pirate Treasure Island

This has been an interesting endeavor.  I find that it takes me quite a few hours to run through the various steps and before I know it the day is done - but I still have more work to do.  I told my coworker that I'm probably going to end up being one of those old people who don't know how to do anything modern - just think of all the changes that have happened in the last 15 years - internet and mobile phones are commonplace, internet on mobile phones is becoming so, digital books, digital music, digitial video, video conferencing, webinars, email, TV on demand, DVRs.  Good gracious, what do you predict is coming next? Naomi says HOVER CARS.  She's probably right. 

Teaching Fiscal Responsibility

I hate paying allowance.  Whatever Naomi needs, I buy for her.  I even periodically buy things she doesn't need - along with Sean and other loving aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  Naomi, however, is POOR!  She never gets anything, and never has money to buy what she needs.  We have tried various allowance methods - a per chore price (25 cents to empty dishwasher, 50 cents to clean the bathroom).  A toy she has chosen and has to earn.  A weekly sum of $2-3. None have lasted long or worked well.  I can understand wanting some financial freedom.   However, money burns a hole in Naomi's pocket.  It must be SPENT!  Even if it means buying mechanical pencils from the vending machine at school, Naomi is determined to do her part to improve our economy. 

Last month, while paying my credit card online, I stumbled upon USAA's recommendations for teaching children how to save.  The site recommended that paying a weekly allowance equal to the child's age was appropriate.  Nine dollars?!? That's a lot of mechanical pencils. 

I thought about it and came up with the following plan that has been working well - so far.  Naomi was told she would get a $9 allowance every week.  She would be expected to put some aside for savings and to pay her tithing.  The rest would be hers to decide what to do with - I would keep my mouth shut, no matter what she used the money for.  However, if she was not completing her chores, she would receive a deduction of her expected allowance.  Being told to go to bed too many times?  Lose a dollar.  Didn't do the dishes after I asked 5 times? Lose a dollar.  Teasing Charlotte and making her squeal/cry?  Lose a dollar.  She CAN NOT get the money back.

As yet, she hasn't earned her full allowance.  Her behavior has improved.  We're still working on the savings and tithing part of it.  Last week was her school book fair.  Naomi was counting up her money and making plans on what she would be purchasing.  She had already spent $2.50 on a plastic dog-shaped pencil sharpener.  It has movable ears, white googly eyes, and tail to which is connnected the drawer where all the pencil shavings go.  Basically, it poops pencil shavings, much to Naomi's delight.  (mechanical pencils and a pencil sharpener, talk about a combination made for one another)  While Naomi browsed the Scholastic book ad, planning what she was going to buy next, I reminded her she needed to pay tithing on her allowance last week. 

"I'm going to pay it at the end of the year, mom!" 

I tried to share with Naomi that saving tithing to pay until the end of the year is not the best plan.  While many people choose to pay their tithing that way, she may find it hard to part with such a large sum in the future.  What was 50 cents now would be $25 at the end of the year.  Not only would it be hard to part with the princly sum of $25, I pointed out that if she wasn't putting the money aside now for the Lord, how would she pay when the end of the year came?  Naomi gave me a disgusted sigh and eye roll and firmly told me, "I can pay at the end of the year mom!  It will be OKAY!"

After a few minutes more searching her book catalog, Naomi looks up to me and says, "Mom, tomorrow is Friday and that means you need to pay me my allowance!"

"Naomi"  I replied, "I've decided to wait to pay you all your allowance at the end of the year."

Needless to say, 9-year-olds don't have any sense of humor.

What would you take with you?

This query was posed to Naomi a few weeks ago in primary. "If your family was in Nauvoo and needed to move west to Salt Lake with the rest of the saints, what items would you choose to take with you?"

Naomi showed me her written reply (used her spelling/punctuation to give you the full experience):

my moms cellphone, money, blankets, food, first aid kit, clothes, empty bags and boxes, my ipod, journal, bible, drinks, fridge, my moms laptop, notebook, a pot to go pee in, pencils, pillows, duck tape, trash can, sunglasses.

The list made me laugh. Now you can see why I do the packing.

Super underwear light guy

Yep, Charlie likes to sing. She sings all the time when she's happy. Whatever nonsense comes to her mind. She spent the entire ride at the San Diego Animal Park singing about the animals she could see, about the twins sitting behind her that liked the hippopotamus (rhinos), about how much she loves her mommy and daddy.

Today, I've been working on laundry. After doing all the clothes from the trip, I want clean bedding. Charlie has been entertaining herself by singing again. Something about saving the world - very Saturday morning, league of super-heroes type song. I look at her and had to start laughing. She was singing about super underwear light guy. (guy, not girl) She has a pair of her undies on her head and she was dancing with a light-up necklace that grandma bought her in DisneyLand. Had to share the image.