My friend Jennie put it perfectly when she said that it wasn't that children grow up too quickly, it's that they just aren't children for very long, exclaiming that "The prime Santa-believing years are over by the time they are 7 or 8!"
I am grateful for a little Henry who still believes in Santa AND the Tooth Fairy. He lost tooth #2 a few weeks ago and left a note for the Tooth Fairy along with a diagram of where his newly lost tooth could be located.
Chris sent an email to his brother explaining all the complexities of Henry losing a tooth:
"Henry is just about to lose his second tooth. It's a complicated event. It is very exciting because it marks a rite of passage, one of many that kids encounter as they grow older. Losing a tooth for a kid is like getting your first shade of a mexi-stash for a jr. highschooler.
Henry is a fascinating person, very complex. He is excited about transition and change and yet very conflicted about losing the tooth because he gets very attached to things that don't seem to have much value to other people (i.e. the packaging that a toy came in). We were talking through losing his second tooth last night as we were snuggling in his bed and I said that his tooth was a champion for having helped him chomp all of his favorite foods for him since he was little. He's done a good job for you and now it's time to retire.
Henry started to process this. "What do you mean, retire?" Henry thought that meant that his tooth was dying and that his little buddy would be going to heaven when the tooth fairy took him. He started to openly sob mourning the loss of his little dentin friend. I had to backpedal and convince him that he was going to be wrapped up in glory, just like his last one was and kept by Mom in the Tooth Hall of Fame to be honored and visited often. This smoothed things over.
Take home message:
Have kids. They fulfil your life in emotional ways that are enlightening to yourself and add such an enriching dimension to your life."
Amen!
Site Title 