You Know It's Really Kindergarten When...

...the teacher hands Daddy a tooth at pickup time and says, "I think Samantha lost this tooth today!"

Daddy, knowing that Samantha lost one last week on vacation and has another wiggly little buddy being forced out of its space by its replacement, takes a thorough look in Samantha's mouth and replies, "Nope, it's not hers." 

Hahaha, I never really thought about it, but I bet Kindergarten teachers are dealing with lost teeth all the time.  It's the nature of the age and all of it's wondrous, if not inconvenient, changes.

I hope that tooth found its way back to its owner so the Tooth Fairy can do a fair exchange!

Speaking of the Tooth Fairy...

Yes, you heard me right, Samantha lost one of her teeth on vacation.  We had gone out in the morning to visit a neighboring island.  When we returned, we took a walk around some of the shops in our island's village.  Samantha promptly flopped down in front of a full-length mirror of a vintage clothing store, telling stories and singing songs, and looking at her teeth (nothing new, as she's been fascinated by their wiggly state) while Steve and I took a look around.  She even told the person working in the store about her teeth, opening her mouth and pointing to them.  Suddenly, I got a good look. 

One was gone.

Gone?  Gone?  Where would it have gone?  Asking Samantha what she did with it was futile, and I began to backtrack in my mind to when the last time was that I could verify they were all there.  She could have swallowed it at breakfast, but wouldn't I have seen one missing when she was posing for photos on the other island just an hour earlier? 

Photos. Right! That's where the key would lie. I scrolled back on my camera, zooming in on the photos of my smiling girl, zooming right into her mouth. The tooth was definitely still there. When we got back into the car to go back to the house, I took a quick look on the floor, and was instantly rewarded. There it was, just a teeny, tiny little thing, easily mistaken for a piece of trash or a crumb.

Proof that the tooth was still there on the other island...

Feeling the empty space after the "discovery."

So we made a big deal about the Tooth Fairy coming to visit that night, which she was pretty excited about.

Until that night. 

"Mommy, I scared a Tooth Fairy," she told me, looking worried, as I tried to put the tooth under her pillow.  She reached under and removed it.  Repeatedly, despite my reassurances.  I was reminded of her reaction two Christmas Mornings ago, when she cried upon discovering that Santa had drunk the milk and eaten the cookies so lovingly left out for him the night before.  Who can blame her, really?  A strange man in a red suit coming down the chimney and hanging out in the house?  Or a lady in a pink tutu coming into her room in the middle of the night to reach under her pillow and take a piece of her?  It's all the same. 

So we settled on leaving the tooth on the night stand, where the Tooth Fairy had no problem leaving her gift and a little note to Sammi. 

Toothlessly cheesing for the camera in Savannah the next day.