The Tooth Mouse

The Tooth Mouse

8 August 2009

(Written nearly three years ago)

The other night everything was running a bit late for some or other reason and then during supper time Luke lost a tooth.  Great excitement all around!  Luke's tooth had been wiggly for a while, so it had just been a matter of time before it fell out.  He quickly dashed off to the bedroom to pull it out, then put it back in his mouth and asked Cole to "pull" his tooth for him.  I wish you could've seen the expression on Cole's face.  Luke is a very thoughtful big brother and it was a very sweet thing to do, giving five year old Cole the honour.  Particularly as Cole is now nearing the age where his own teeth will soon start falling out and he is just so keen to join the toothless club.

The problem now was the fact that whilst Luke was no longer a believer in the Tooth Mouse, Cole and Amber were completely suckered in.  Luke had not lost a tooth for two and a half years, so there had been a dearth of Tooth Mouse activity.  In our house, the Tooth Fairy visits Amber because she is a girl, but the Tooth Mouse calls on the boys because they are boys.  So obviously this was even extra exciting for Cole.  Amber has been losing teeth at a rate of knots and we had been “seeing” quite a lot of the Tooth Fairy.  But as for the Tooth Mouse – it had been a really long time!  The last time the Tooth Mouse popped in, Amber was four years old and she drew a cute little picture for the Tooth Mouse.  And kindly he left her R2 even though she never lost a tooth.  Quite obviously he was her hero for life.

Needless to say, we now had to leave cheese and milk in three bedrooms.  Amber also insisted on drawing a picture and writing a letter to the Tooth Mouse.  Our 19h30 for 20h00 bedtime had been blown to the wind and the kids were dashing all over the house looking for stuff to leave for the Tooth Mouse, drawing pictures, getting cheese, milk, etc.  I gently explained to Amber and Cole that the Tooth Mouse was actually paying Luke a visit (you know Luke - the one who doesn't actually care about the Tooth Mouse anymore and just wants me to give him the money!).  I told them that I was cautiously optimistic that the Tooth Mouse would sniff the cheese and milk in their bedrooms and investigate and that he would perhaps leave them a little coin (I first had to make sure that I had change).

Grant says I get more excited than the kids.  I absolutely love it.  I get all carried away thinking up things.  The Tooth Mouse uses cursive writing in his replies to the kids.  This is because the Tooth Fairy prints everything in upper case in a sparkly pink pen.  They can't look the same after all.  And then old Father Xmas in his blustery way, uses a very big curly cursive writing style as well, in a read pen naturally.  Thank goodness the Easter Bunny doesn't write at all - he just leaves big white footprints all over the children's bedrooms as well as footprints in the garden.  I keep all the letters that the kids write to all these characters as well as the replies that they receive.  Amber's Tooth Fairy letters are so sweet.  I have to keep my responses because she remembers all the detail and I certainly can't just wing it.  I have to make sure that my stories match up.  She is also very inquisitive and always asks questions in her letters and thrives on any titbit of information that she gets.  The information that Amber has gleaned from her Tooth Fairy letters so far keep her spellbound.  Her personal Tooth Fairy's name is Pippabella and her best friend's name is Angelbell.  They have fantastic fun together, going to marvellous places like the Autumn Harvest Festival Ball, where the fireflies light up the forest and they dance all night long.  They drink peach blossom honey nectar, go on picnics together, do petal-hopping and play raindrop hopscotch.  Now Pippabella is a fairy with both wings planted firmly in the new millennium and has a romantic interest called Finlay and Angelbell's love is Morton.  Amber confided that next time she wants to ask Pippabella to please bring her something from Fairy Land and I am racking my brain trying to come up with something.  She has no loose teeth at the moment, but it's just a matter of time.  She also did ask Pippabella for a picture of herself, but sadly Pippabella told her that unfortunately fairies were not allowed to have photo's taken of themselves, as they lose fairy dust on their wings, which might lead to them not being able to fly anymore.  I do so hope that they carry on believing in the magic for as long as possible.

So in the end, Grant had to drink three glasses of milk as well as eat all the cheese, being careful to leave some tell-tale crumbs of course.  Each child got their own letter, even Luke (you know Luke - the one who doesn't actually care about the Tooth mouse anymore and just wants me to give him the money!).  The sweet and caring Tooth Mouse even left Amber and Cole two R1 coins each. 

Amber wrote the sweetest little letter for the Tooth Mouse, which I added at the top.  And for those of you who do not understand Amber's way of phonetically trying to write, I shall translate:

“Thank you Tooth Mouse for your caring.  I love you.  Love Amber.  Do you have any children?  How many?  Do you have any other things that you can tell me about yourself?”