A ToothyTale

Day before yesterday, when I went to pick up Asmaani at her daycare, she came runing forward jubilantly and said, "Mum, I have a wobbly tooth!" Already? I wondered and a sudden emotion overtook me. After all, losing milk teeth is definitely a landmark in the growing up process! I bent over to see that her tiny little lower incisor was indeed wobbling to and fro. And she was demonstrating it by pushing her tongue against it. And she kept on rambling something about a tooth fairy who would soon come and take the tooth away and leave her a gift behind. (Never heard of that sort of thing as a child. I remember losing my first tooth to a tomato and burying it in the park later on.)

By the time we reached home, it had sort of turned in to a game for her. She kept on swinging the poor old fellow furiously with all her tongue's might so much so that it finally gave up and popped out! "Mumma! Mumma!" I heard victorious shouts from the living room. "My tooth is out! The tooth fairy is going to visit me! Yes!!!" After we had washed the blood off the teeny-tiny incisor, with amazing curiosity and awe, she inspected the little fellow from every angle possible. I think she was kind of over-awed to see in hand something which was a part of her just a few moments ago.

That night she was all excited as though it was Xmas. She carefully wrapped the tooth in a tissue (after heavy argument with Alam and me as to whether the thumb-sized tooth fairy will be able to unwrap the kitchen tissue or should we use a toilet tissue instead.) She then placed it under the pillow and then lay thinking with the tooth at one end and her head on the other end. It was, she explained, so that it becomes easy for the tooth fairy to find access under her pillow. Then she got up once again and told Alam to keep the window a bit open (how much bit was once again heavily argued) so that the tooth fairy can fly in with ease.

Alam realised that excited as she was it was best to tuck her in our bed along with the tooth. As she dozed off sleepily she mumbled that the tooth fairy is going to leave her some colour papers or probably a penny. After she slept off, Alam meticulously pulled out the tooth wrapped in the tissue and put a pound with a note from the tooth fairy saying 'use this money to buy your coloured papers'.

She was jubilant the next day morning to find a shiny pound and most importantly a COLOURFUL LETTER from the tooth fairy. She smiled sleepily a one-less-tooth smile, the tip of her tongue sticking out from the little gap amongst the lower set of her teeth, and she said, "Mum, my other tooth is wobbly too!"