gap

102:365

She finally lost her first tooth today. Came out during snack time at After Care, which I found out when I arrived to pick her up.

"Holy cow, Zo! That's awesome! Where is it?"

"In my tummy!"

She was eating something crunchy and thought the tooth was just a really really crunchy piece.

"It's okay Mommy. You know why? The Tooth Fairy brings you a GOLDEN coin when you swallow your tooth!"

F*ck. Where the hell am I gonna get a golden coin at 5:15 on a Wednesday night? Scratch that...7:30 on a Wednesday night because I gotta wait until she goes to bed.

Enter M: superdad extraordinaire, even when he's not here. I raided the mug on his desk where he dumps all his leftover foreign currency after international trips. Tooth Fairy is kickin' it Denmark style and droppin' a 20 Kroner under Zoe's pillow tonight (it's golden, after all). Along with a few good ol' American greenbacks, of course.

We called M using FaceTime so he could see the gap for himself. (That one call made the iPad worth every single penny.) We watched his eyes light up with recognition that there was something missing, and saw the look of awe on his face. It was really special.

I was supposed to be in Kansas today. I was supposed to be gone. I blew the trip off for a number of reasons, one of them being that I was terrified at the idea of missing the loss of her first tooth. I realize as a working mom that I'll miss a lot of things. I've resigned myself to that fact. But I for damn sure was NOT going to miss this milestone. I want to be her first Tooth Fairy, and I want to celebrate with her, and I want to be here to mourn the physical loss of her babyness. I want to be here to witness how her smile changes, and how her speech changes (it's subtle, but you can hear that she's missing a tooth). No job is worth missing that, especially the one in which I am currently trapped.

So here I sit, exhausted after a day of working, corralling all the various entities required to tear down a house and rebuild, researching summer camps for The Bug and then getting her registered with the right schedule to ensure maximum coverage, plus the various mundane tasks that make up a regular everyday life. And at the same time, I'm absolutely thrilled to play Tooth Fairy to the most awesome kid in the world.