The Story of Lucia's Lost Tooth

Ok, so this story is actually from a couple of months ago, but I am just finally getting around to writing it down. Better late than never!

A little background; It was an unusual day to start with because it was "Pet Day" at preschool which meant that Samantha got to go to school and I was there to pick Luc up. Except for a handful of times I have been exclusively the drop- off mom this year while our neighbor has handled all of the pick-up duties. So you have to picture Darby, Lucia and Reilly (our neighbor) in the far back of the van, Vivi and Lizzie in the middle row and Samantha, our 100 lb. St Bernard in the middle aisle between the twinkies.

We get everyone buckled in and I am about to start the van when Lucia holds out her hand and says "Look mom! I lost a tooth!" "What?" I reply, thinking I must have misheard her. But no, she says it again and there in the palm of her adorable, 5 year old hand is her tooth. So I ask her about how she lost her tooth and she tells me, in great detail. Apparently she and her friend, Joey, were playing Pachycepholasaurus when she accidentally hit the side of her head on the climber-thingy. She told me that the teacher came over and checked her out and there was a lot of blood and she (the teacher) reached in and pulled out a molar from the back of her mouth. I sat incredulously listening to her until she stopped and then I asked her if she was ok. "Yep!" was her only reply. Ok, then. Still in shock that she

1. Could have hit her head hard enough to knock out a molar
2. Wasn't bruised and battered looking
3. The teacher hadn't mentioned anything when I picked her up

we drove home. I spent the rest of the day saying things like "Really? Tell me again how it happened. I just don't get it, Luc." and "Can I look in your mouth? I want to try and see where it came from." and she let me look, but it was so dark I couldn't see much of anything.

Later Kyle came home and she told him all about her tooth, too. We talked about it a little, but dinner time was crazy, as usual and nothing more was said until bedtime. We went through our bedtime routine and as I was brushing her hair I said to Lucia again, "Luc, it just doesn't make sense. How do you hit yourself hard enough to lose a tooth, but not have a bruise or a sore mouth?" and Kyle looked at her tooth again and said, very calmly, "That's not a tooth, is it? It's a rock." and without even one second of hesitation she replied "No. I just wanted to see if I could fool the tooth fairy."

And then she proceeded to leave it under her pillow for the next three nights so that the tooth fairy could come pay her for her "tooth". She persisted until the tooth fairy finally stopped by one night and left a note under her pillow that said "That is not a tooth, it is a rock! :( "