Well, it finally happened.  Our oldest child has lost her very first tooth.  In February, we all had dentist appointments and the dental hygienist pointed out that our oldest daughter already had two new front bottom teeth growing behind her front two baby teeth.  This was quite a surprise to all of us, but the dental hygienist reassured us that everything would be fine and that both teeth should be out within a month…We just had to keep reminding her to wiggle her two front teeth every day =) 

So, you would have thought that my husband and I would have been thinking ahead to what our plans would be for when those first teeth finally did decide to come out – but no.  The morning after her first tooth fell out, I was scrambling, searching online in an attempt to find an alternative to the Tooth Fairy.  Yes, I realize that we are bucking tradition and that just about every child in America has or will be visited by the well loved, albeit mysterious Tooth Fairy.  Just like in our discussions of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, we have decided to be truthful about what we convey to our children regarding the Tooth Fairy.

So, here is our family’s new tradition as our children lose their first baby teeth…

1) Read aloud books about losing teeth and traditions around the world regarding what happens when children lose their teeth.  Here are two great books…
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Traditions From Around the World by Selby Beeler (Not every culture has a Tooth Fairy!  In many places around the world, children are visited by mice who take their teeth in exchange for a small coin or gift.  Others throw their tooth on the roof, bury it in the ground, or feed it to animals.  Ask them which they think is the funniest, strangest, or most similar to our family’s tradition.  Read a few entries at a time, locating the countries on a map or globe.)
Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth by Lucy Bate (This is a sweet story about a rabbit that loses her first tooth and can’t decide if she wants to believe in the tooth fairy, hinting that her mommy and daddy are the real tooth fairies.)

2) Have the child place their tooth in a pocket pillow and hang it outside their door.  (They know the Tooth Fairy is mommy and daddy! Our oldest decided it was best to hang the pillow outside the door so that the “Tooth Mommy” wouldn’t accidentally wake her up in the middle of the night =) )

3) For the very first tooth, they get a special bead charm with 20 beads to represent their 20 baby teeth. They will get to move one bead each time a tooth falls out.  We will also scrapbook this rite of passage with a photo, date, and explanation for how and where their tooth came out.
(The tooth pillow and tooth counting chain were both found at The Silver Penny.)

4) For the other teeth that fall out, they will get either a gold foiled chocolate coin OR a coin from a foreign country to begin an around the world coin collection.  Hopefully, we decide that before the next tooth falls out!

So, there you have it!  Since, our oldest wasn’t too keen on trying to throw her tooth on the roof and hop around our house on one foot while we all laughed, we now have ‘The Tooth Mommy’ and a new family tradition!