Lots of family stuff...and a little bit of fun trivia :)

A Tale of Three Stories...

Story 1: A long time ago in the central part of Europe, there lived a bunch of people who believed in witches. From what I can tell, it would have been a horribly scary time and place to live. Anyway, according to popular superstition, a witch could gain control of your soul if she was able to obtain something which was once a part of you- things like blood, hair, fingernails...or teeth. Because of this, people were pretty scared to simply throw these things away. They usually chose to burn it instead. The problem with this method of disposal is that teeth don't always burn that well- they are extremely resilient (which is why dental records are often useful in forensics). So, what do you do when a child loses a tooth? The answer? Bury it. Make sure the hole is deep and it is covered well. The home garden was the preferred location. Over time this tradition continued, although the joint phenomena of urbanization and enlightenment thinking changed it into something entirely different...

Story 2: A long time ago in cultures as far-flung as modern Russia, New Zealand, France, and Mexico, people held the belief in a special kind of "sympathetic magic." This was the magic of transference of some feature from one object to another, and often required some sort of offering and/or prayer or song. For example, it was believed that walnuts could strengthen the brain because they look like brains, that courage or strength could be obtained from some animal as a result of sympathetic links, or that a person could be manipulated through links to a formed sculpture or Voodoo Doll. Anyway, out of this belief there grew a tradition in each of these places for children to place their primary teeth in the opening of a mouse hole as an offering; in return, they would grow a new set of teeth that were stronger (like a rodent's).

Story 3:  A long time ago in Scandinavian countries, the Vikings would go into battle wearing good luck charms. Some of the Old Norse writings suggest that human teeth were sometimes used for these charms, obtained by the warriors by paying for them with a tand-fe', or "tooth fee." The fact that this term has survived lends credibility to this story, although I couldn't find much primary evidence. It is true though, that tand-fe' became a thing in Europe, and that there was a small market for teeth for the making of jewelry.

The Convergence Begins...

Over time, these traditions transformed into the still-popular animal fantasies from other countries such as La Petite Souris in France, or El Ratoncito Perez in Spain. These cute rodents leave prizes or money in exchange for primary teeth. And as this folklore made its way to America, it was cross-pollinated yet again with the tradition of a generic "good fairy" (Also from Europe...we think) to make the modern American version of The Tooth Fairy. The earliest mention of this benevolent pixy was in The Chicago Tribune in 1908, although it wasn't until the 50s/60s that she entered the mainstream consciousness, probably helped along by other Good Fairy motifs of the day such as those in Disney's Cinderella and Pinocchio.

It's funny, isn't it, how a little history can give such insight into a popular childhood superstition?

The rest, as they say, is history. Parents have been lying to their kids ever since. (But it's okay, because 97% of kids end up having either positive or neutral feelings toward this deception. And it's fun. This research has actually been done).
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As you might have guessed, Evelyn lost her front tooth this week. It was pretty loose for a while, and she finally asked me pull it out one night with pliers (I am a dentist, after all). It came out easy and she did well, but then she refused to follow our suggestion to put it under her pillow. It was a cool tooth, after all! She had many fond memories of using it to eat or bite things with, and immediately recognized its potential as a lifelong memento of her childhood. It wasn't as if she hadn't lost teeth before- she had, and she would keep losing them. But this was her front tooth, and therefore special, and nothing we could say or do could convince her otherwise.

But then, she came up with this idea:

(Click on it to see it large)
Dear, tooth Fairy,
Can you just leave my tooth behind, and still give me money? Because I like my tooth a hole lot, but I also like having money from you, it made me almost cry to think about it in fact I did cry a little in church today. Please leave me a little note tonite that says yes or no.
From: Evelyn

Yes, that is a letter to the tooth fairy. And it turns out that she received a response:

Dear Evelyn,
Thank you for your letter. I am sorry you cried and were sad about the idea of giving away your tooth. Of course you can keep it! Losing a tooth and receiving money from the tooth fairy is about celebrating the fact that you are growing up. You deserve a little celebration. I heard you have a cool tooth, and I would love to have a look at it. Please leave it out tomorrow so I can take a peek. I will leave a surprise and I promise I will not take the tooth. Enjoy the excitement of growing up.
Love,
The T Fairy

Evelyn was so elated by this response that she started thinking a little more deeply about the tooth fairy and decided to do something nice- This note was left under her pillow the following night along with her tooth:

Dear T. Fairy (The period after T is in the shape of a tooth)
This is a oreo. You have to try it. Santa gets treats how come you don't? It is like a smoer, if you even know what a smoer is. it is choclet and marshmelows in it and gramh crakers on the owtsides. But, a oreo is marshmelow flavord stuff on the inside and choklet cookies on both sides. By the way I put a choclet chip on top
Love,
Evelyn

What a thoughtful girl. I'm sure the tooth fairy enjoyed the offering.

Besides Evelyn's new penpal, we have done a few other things this week:

Maren got a haircut. This was not a planned event. It started when we looked over and saw this:

Please notice the pile of hair on the floor behind her as well. Yep- she had given herself a mullet.

A Facebook friend asked "Where did she ever get the idea to cut her own hair?" Answer: You obviously don't have kids. It is a well established fact that all children have the genetic predisposition to drive their parents crazy in whatever way they can. Incidentally, this is also why kids are generally cute...survival.

One hour later we had this:

I think it turned out alright. Remember what I said about being cute?

For family night, we became artists by mixing frosting colors on our palates.

Here are some of the results:

"Primary Explosion"- Rachel

"Displaced"- Logan

"Tree, Mountains, and Sky" -Evelyn

"You Decide" -Jack

Mudgy and Millie had their birthday party! For those who are not aware, Mudgy is a moose, and Millie is a mouse. They are characters in a children's picture book published in September, 2008. The story tells about a fun game of hide-and-seek these friends played all around downtown Coeur d'Alene. Since then, they have been adopted by the community at large as local mascots. At the birthday party we met the author of the book, artist who made the statues found around town, and Mudgy and Millie themselves! We also had cake and played at the park. It was a lot of fun.

Can you tell that our kids got themselves ready? Also, nobody has any idea who the little boy is in the bottom left. I didn't even see him there when I took the picture. Creepy, right? Let's just call him "Maren."

Autumn is here. Leaves are falling, and the long sleeve shirts are coming out. I love it! I love it! I love it! Just thinking about it makes me want hot chocolate.

The kids went on a three mile walk today. Jackson wanted to run. Addy wanted to ride her bike. It's crazy every once in a while when you get these reminders that your kids are always watching you, and that a part of you will always live on in them.

Last but not least...the weekly elephant!