8.16.2006

Magical Childhood Moments


Late last night, the loose tooth that my daughter had been wiggling in her mouth for days, popped out! It was a pretty exciting moment since it was her first tooth to come out. She showed it to all of us and then we put it in a special wooden box. (It was the same wooden box that I had given my parents with a tiny baby inside, announcing that I was expecting my first child. Just like my mom had done years before for her own mother.) We put the wooden box on her desk by her jewelry box so that the tooth fairy would find it near the other important treasures.

My daughter is dear and sweet and unfortunately lives in an age where magical childhood moments are infrequent and die away rather quickly. Just last spring, she was already on to the Easter Bunny. I think I steered her back into childhood make believe.

Fairies are dear and special and fun. Luckily she still believes in them and plays along with them too. For instance, a Christmas Elf comes to our house every December 1 with a letter reminding us that he is going to be watching us duirng the day. At night, he will report back to Santa on what was done and said that day. The next morning, the kids gleefully run about the house trying to find the Elf's new lookout. A few general reminders are given in the letter: don't touch me, choose the right, obey your parents. It's a great month!

We have some house fairies too. I rarely, very rarely, make my bed. On occasion, my DH will do it. Then I'll exclaim, "Wow! The Bed Fairy made my bed!" My daughter has figured out this fairy. A couple of weeks ago, she came to me announcing that the Bed Fairy had made my bed. I could see the excited gleam in her eyes when she confided in me that she was the Bed Fairy.

So in the life of a child, at least my child, I am so glad there are these magical moments...Moments that I am trying to keep alive as long as I can in my kids' lives.

2 comments:

Susan said...

we all need magical, fairy moments. Sometimes they come naturally. But most times we have to dream them up ourselves. That's the hard part...dreaming them up out of every day events/annoyances/naps/people

Jen said...

Dawn,
this is a touching, wonderfully written entry that brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing a little light into your family for us to see.

Hugs,
Jen G.