The Tooth Fairy

Evan shows off his tooth

If there is a silver lining to a tooth extraction at age 3 1/2 it's a visit from the Tooth Fairy! The day before the extraction I secretly bought a cool "Lightning McQueen" matchbox car. (For those not in the know, Lightning McQueen is an animated car from Evan's all time favorite movie "Cars". )

Thursday night I read him The Berenstein Bears Visit the Dentist. Sister Bear has a loose tooth that the dentist "wiggles" out for her and then the tooth fairy comes. It seemed like a good primer for what was to come. As Pat put him to bed I overheard him say that; "Dr. Englander (or Gan-ged-ger as Evans says) is going to wiggle my tooth out tomorrow." I was pleased that he understood.

I was anxious all morning, but Evan was excited to go see the dentist. I was sent to the waiting room during the extraction where I could hardly sit still. Fifteen minutes later they came to get me and told me he had been a great patient. My heart was racing. I was sure he would be a crying mess when I went in. Instead he was sitting calmly in the chair and was happy to see me. He chose a dinosaur finger puppet as his prize from the treasure chest for being such a super patient. He slipped it on his finger and immediately started growling at everyone. To my delight, I saw the wild, playful boy I had been missing all week.

The only time he was upset all day was when the novocaine wore off. He did not like the tingling sensation and was upset for a few minutes. Otherwise he had a great day and even had some food, and lots of ice cream - per the dentist's orders.

When it was time for bed Evan didn't want the tooth under his pillow. So we put it on his monkey throw pillow beside his bed for the Tooth Fairy to find.

This morning I woke to an excited whisper. "Mommy! It's Lightning McQueen!" I opened my eyes to see Evan holding the car with a huge smile on his face.

"Did the Tooth Fairy bring you that?" I asked

"YES! The Tooth Fairy bringed me Lightning McQueen for my tooth!"

That brief fleeting moment was a small bright spot in what had otherwise been a very difficult week.