Greetings from Fairyland

My little girl is ALL ABOUT FAIRIES. Oh heck, I admit it, I like 'em too. We read about them, we play with her lovely Folkmanis fairies, we play with her Playmobil fairies, we make up stories about them, Kira dresses up like them, we have decorated her room in a fairyesque theme...you get the idea. So, can I just share a bit about our brushes with fairy magic this past week? (Of course I can, this is my blog, and I'm basically talking to myself here!)

Kira had had a wiggly tooth for a few weeks (at the most). She was THRILLED when I discovered it one night while brushing her teeth before bed. From that moment on, the obsessive wiggling began. Last Friday (March 3) at 1:45 am, Adam and I were awakened by her shouting, "MY TOOTH FELL OUT!!!" Holy cats, how in the world do you loose a tooth at a quarter to two in the morning? I assumed that she'd been grinding her teeth (creepy, I know) but she later confessed that she woke up in the night and just started wiggling it. I had no idea what time it was (no contacts or glasses) and told Adam to run and grab the camera. We took several shots, she checked herself out in the mirror, and *eventually*, we all fell back to sleep.

Our toothless wonder woke up bright and early for school a few hours later, and in the best mood of her life. She was SO HAPPY to have lost her tooth. She really wanted to take it to school for sharing, but agreed not to for fear of losing it. We had planned to visit Gramma & Grampa J. for a sleepover. We were so excited to celebrate Gramma's last radiation treatment, and brought her a nice boquet for the occassion. (Kira also surprised Gramma & Grampa with her new smile!) We discussed whether or not the Tooth Fairy might have trouble finding her and her tooth. After careful consideration, we decided to take the tooth with us and hope for the best.

Friday night after dinner with Adam's folks, Adam and I gave Kira two celebratory gifts. One was The Tooth Fairy Kit by Becky Kelly. It included a small satin tooth pillow, an organza bag to keep her loot in, and a cute little Lost Tooth Journal. The other was Junie B. Jones: Toothless Wonder. Kira went to sleep with a sweet missing tooth smile on her face.

At 4:00 am Saturday morning, she awoke and discovered that the Tooth Fairy had come! She found five golden dollars in her little satin tooth pillow...plus a Tooth Fairy finger puppet! She took forever to fall back to sleep, she was so excited. Later in the morning, she even discovered some fairy dust left under her pillow. She then proceeded to jump in it and attempt to "fly" by jumping off the mattress on the floor. It was VERY entertaining for her grandma and I!

It took Kira and I a week to find time to go shopping for something with her Tooth Fairy loot. We headed to the mall (shudder) before meeting Adam for dinner on Friday to see what we could find. Although the new Fairy Realm book, The Peskie Spell was out at Barnes and Nobel, Kira was set on heading to the Disney Store (shudder yet again). I've gotta say, I loathe Disney. I hate that they are all about marketing to children, and that all of their stories/movies are so sterotypic with the helpless females, the heroic males, the way over the top evil villains, etc. Yuck. However, it was her money, and I promised she could decide how to spend it. She ended up with a Mulan Barbie-like doll. (It was on sale for $4.99.) As much as I am anti-Barbie, I admit I was pleased that she chose Mulan over Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Ariel, etc. It took her less than 24 hours to pretty much trash it. She lost part of the costume in Home Depot (with Daddy on Sat.) The doll's hair is matted. One shoe is missing, and the other has been chewed up by the dog. The clothes are already looking snaggy, and the seams are even coming apart. The good news here? Lesson learned--finally--about spending good money on crappy toys.

So, feeling sorry for my sweetie, I finally finished a little flower fairy doll that I started making last summer. (I had put it away for some time because we couldn't find any acorn caps, but collected a bunch last fall.) I made Kira a mermaid last June instead, "Pearl" (who now has a modest fresh water pearl bra). She is very, very well loved and actually looks like she may have been found along the sea shore. Both dolls were made following instructions from a book by Sally Mavor called, "Felt Wee Folk". I fell in love with Sally's style when reading a couple of children's books that she had 'illustrated'. Her work is extremely detailed and lovely, and oh so magical. So today, "Sakura" was born. She's pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

So, our stay in Fairyland continues, and I couldn't be happier. I wonder how long this love will last? When will fairies become too babyish for my growing girl? I hope not for a long, long time. For now, I'll just keep on telling Princess Petal stories and doing what I can to keep the fairy magic alive.