Monday, January 4, 2016

The Triumphant Return of Sparklebritches Glitterpants

Alternate title: there has been a sad lack of glitter in our lives recently.

Who is Sparklebritches Glitterpants? You might know her by her official name of 'The Tooth Fairy.' I bestowed this moniker on her lo these many years ago when in a fit of inspiration, I decided to sprinkle glitter swiped from my children's art set to make it more fun than just getting money for their teeth. I blame Pinkalicious and Pinterest for this. Anyway, the glitter gets EVERYWHERE (no kidding) but they love the idea of 'fairy dust' so I was hoisted upon my own petard. This is why my creativity needs to be confined to 1) baking and B) writing. But I digress.

Sparklebritches Glitterpants hasn't had much to do at the Lange household this past year. All quiet on the enameled front and all that. There was a bit of excitement in November when Noelle's tooth finally came out after more than a year but beyond that, not a glimmer to be found. But, it's a new year and what better way to welcome 2016 than with glitter?

We were celebrating Christmas with Dyl's mom at her house on New Year's Day, a quiet affair when I wandered into the family room where Noah was watching some TV (after the hella late night they had on New Year's Eve - which is a story unto itself - he could watch 'Paw Patrol' til his eyes crossed for he was still.) For some reason, I noticed his mouth and that something looked 'off.' He's always had widely spaced teeth but one space in particular seemed wider than usual. I asked him to open his mouth more and was greeted by the sight of a bloody gaping hole where his tooth used to be. Compelled by the power of the grape, (aka 3/4 a bottle of Shiraz) I kind of shouted at him 'where is your tooth?!' then followed up that brilliant piece of parenting by shoving a tissue into the hole to blot the blood. To the shock of everyone (me), he completely wigged out, crying and sobbing that it hurt. Which it didn't because he wasn't even aware of it until I came swooping in, screeching like an unhinged guardian of dentifrice.

Trying to comfort him while Dylan searched for his tooth, I patted his back and said I just wanted to be sure he hadn't swallowed it which, though the truth, was the absolutely wrong thing to say as it set off a fresh wave of sobbing, "I'm not going to be able to eat now!" to which I may or may not have unsuccessfully choked back laughter. Nothing like setting the parenting bar high the first day of the year. Long story short, the bleeding stopped, the tooth was found, and dinner was eaten.

This picture brought to you by a bottle of Shiraz
So how did a marginally loose tooth pop out? Well, he has a habit of  pulling on his socks...with his teeth. Shrewdly asking him, "Were you chewing on your socks before your tooth came out?", he admitted he was and like that, the mystery solved.

That would be the rest of the bottle; why do you ask?
Later at home, he admitted that he was very excited that the Tooth Fairy was going to be visiting him for the first time as he was jealous that Noelle had been the only one visited. No worries buddy, I got you covered. I've been waiting to give this to you for a long time.



But can we agree to maybe slow this growing up thing down just a little now? Sparklebritches Glitterpants needs another bottle.