Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Tooth Fairy is busy...

JJ and Jezz still believe, so the tooth fairy is so busy in our house that she almost has to come back every day, which of course she forgets! :-) And then the tooth is laying there.... lonely under their pillow for 2 or sometimes even 3 days ;-(

Both lost their 2 bottom teeth on the way when we moved to SA, 2 years ago. Till now they had not lost any! But now they are catching up. Jasmine has her whole 'rack' loose. Almost all of her teeth are wobbly and crooked like an old lady. She looks really funny and her expression is so different these days! What teeth can do to your appearance!



Juliet is a bit behind, although she is the first born, she only lost 3, so 2 two years ago and now just 1 this week, but she also has a few loose ones... so soon she will look like an old lady too and will lisp a bit like her sister!



The new ones that are coming in are of course so BIG compared to the other ones, it really looks not right at first. And they had such a straight pearly white teeth before, but now it is all crooked and not as white anymore.

The girls are growing up! I will miss this baby phase... Maybe time to adopt a new one??
We talked about it at home with the girls and Dirk, but all 3 decided NO in unison. I tried and said: but what about a cute little boy and you can be the big sister?? No, boys are ANNOYING said JJ and Jezz, I even tried with Dirk and mentioned that he can play soccer, but he is happy with his 3 girls... (Nice that he includes me as well ;-)

So soon, no more tooth fairies coming to our house ;-(
I am alone in my quest... but really I wasn't so sure either. I don't like to jeopardize the family unit we have now, and it is so much easier with all the travels we do. 2 kids a lot easier than 3 kids.... So the Dijkstra family is complete!

What about you guys? Are you ready for another one, now or a bit later?

By the way: do you know the origins of the tooth fairy? I looked it up at Wikipedia and here is what it says:



In early Europe, it was a tradition to bury baby teeth that fall out. This combination of ancient international traditions has evolved into one that is distinct to Anglo-Saxon and Latin American cultures among others. The tradition is still very much alive and well in Ireland and Great Britain, where it is common for young children to believe in the Tooth Fairy. When a child's 6th tooth falls out it is customary for the tooth fairy to slip a gift or money under the child's pillow, but to leave the tooth as a reward for the child growing strong.
Tooth tradition is present western cultures under different names. A Ratón Pérez appeared in the tale of the Vain Little Mouse. The Ratoncito Pérez was used by Colgate marketing in Venezuela and Spain.
In Italy, the Tooth Fairy (Fatina) is also often replaced by a small mouse (topino). In France, this character is called La Petite Souris ("The Little Mouse"). From parts of Lowland Scotland comes a tradition similar to the fairy mouse: a white fairy rat who purchases the teeth with coins.
In some Asian countries, such as India, Korea and Vietnam, when a child loses a tooth the usual custom is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse. This tradition is based on the fact that the teeth of mice go on growing for their whole life, a characteristic of all rodents. In Japan, a different variation calls for lost upper teeth to be thrown straight down to the ground and lower teeth straight up into the air; the idea is that incoming teeth will grow in straight.[citation needed]
In parts of India, young children offer their discarded baby tooth to the sun, sometimes wrapped in a tiny rag of cotton turf.

The Tooth Fairy is less common in African cultures.
Rosemary Wells, a former professor at the Northwestern University Dental School, found evidence that supports the origin of different tooth fairies in the United States around 1900. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests postwar affluence, a child-directed family culture, and media turned the myth into a custom. The Tooth Fairy, a three-act playlet for children by Esther Watkins Arnold, was published in 1927. On May 28, 1938, MGM released The Little Rascals short entitled, The Awful Tooth, in which the gang agreed to pull their teeth out to make money from the tooth fairy.[3] A reference in American literature appears in the 1949 book, "The Tooth Fairy" by Lee Rothgow. Dr. Wells created a Tooth Fairy Museum in 1993 in her Deerfield, Illinois museum. In a March 1961 Peanuts strip, the new character Frieda asks if the prices are set by the American Dental Society. The Tooth Fairy has appeared in several children's books, an adult book, and films, and the eponymous radio series.
A somewhat similar practice is found in Guatemala, where worry dolls are told a worry by children and placed under their pillow. During the night the doll is believed to worry so that the child can sleep, and sometimes to actually address or resolve the worry. As with the tooth fairy, parents may remove the doll at night to reinforce the child's belief in the myth.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille

4 comments:

Leah Maya Benjamin said...

How interesting,I never new the story of the tooth fairy, I put one under my pillow without telling my parents because I was sure they were lying, what a surprise when it was still there in the morning, boy was I mad becasue from that I knew all of it was a lie. I always think their new front teeth kind of look like rabbit teeth until they grow into them baby teeth are just so tiny. Love the goofy teeth pictures!

Annie said...

Sadly, a couple of times I went to bed and FORGOT to do "the job". Yikes! So when the kids came to me in the morning and said, "mom!! The Tooth Fairy forgot me." I would say, "oh no, really???" Then I would grab some coins secretly, and as I "searched" their bed, I would put it inside the pillowcase. Then say, "wait, what is that sound?.."
Also, I always go with the old fashioned, small handful of coins. I don't get why the "rates" keep going up and people are putting $10 bills under there. Ridiculous!

Maci Miller said...

Hey, Mireille! There is a real cute book I got for Ruby (for down the road) called "There's A Tooth On Your Roof!" It has traditions and customs from all over the world and in most of Asia (including Thailand) they throw the tooth on the roof for good luck. Interesting, huh? Oh and the girls still look adorable with their crooked teeth!

On the baby front...ah...much talk about that in our house! Some days we think 100% YES to another child and some days we aren't sure. Time will tell. Found out it could take up to a year to get invited to the Thai consulate AFTER finalization here which should be in the next couple months. Can't submit paperwork until we get that invite and THEN begins our wait. So we are talking a probable 3 years wait. Jeff & I will be 44/45 and Ruby 6. Will we be too old to start again? Will it be too long for Ruby as an only child to have to get used to being a big sister? Of course, if we go with another country we could possible have a child sooner...but then we'd have to learn another language and our hearts are so in Thailand. We were hoping to adopt from the same orphanage. Many things to think about! I guess we will know when the time comes. :-)

Mireille said...

You are sneaky Annie, so funny! I don't think it would work with my girls ;-)
Yeah, I know Jen, it is not an easy decision, it is not something you just do over the weekend. It is planning and as you said age is a factor you have to consider. Not only now, 44/45 but 20 years down the line! That was our issue, we like to retire early and travel the world! If we start again now, we will be so much older again. BUT it is nice for Ruby to have a sibling ;-)... at least I had 2 at the same time and we are so grateful for that!!

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