Normally when Isla loses a tooth it’s gone forever, never to be seen again.
We don’t know where they go. Our best guesses are that she swallows them or she posts them in a place of no return.
I normally notice when it’s too late. Isla will come and throw me a cheeky toothless smile and that’s when i realise her tooth has gone!
Isla has had a very wobbly front tooth and a slightly wobbly front tooth for ages, so long in fact that one of her adult teeth has started coming through while her baby teeth are still hanging on in there.
I was so concerned that I took her to see her dentist who assured me everything was normal, well better than normal as he reported she had lovely teeth (don’t ask me how, that is a miracle).
We were in bed the other night when Isla started saying ‘oh no, teeth’ and the next thing I know she pulls my finger towards her mouth and pops her tooth out in to my hand!
Strangely though (strange is something we are used to here), Islas very wobbly tooth was still there hanging by a thread, her other not so wobbly tooth was the one that had made a swift exit.
Isla unfortunately has a look of nanny McPhee now! Hopefully not for too long.
It was too late for tooth fairy duties that night so we didn’t bother, the next night we were away so we didn’t bother and the night we were back I was determined to be tooth fairy.
…………………….and that’s when I realised that I couldn’t!
I had waited so long to do this very normal, everyday, parenting ritual and I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t be tooth fairy for Isla.
Why? Islas just a child like any other right?
Unfortunately not.
You see Isla has other weird and wonderful little things going on with her autism.
Isla has pica.
Isla has had pica as long as I can remember. Pica is common in children with autism and to sum it up means Isla likes to put things in her mouth, lots of things, anything.
Over the years I’ve caught Isla eating sand, mud, grass, mouthing small toys, coins, trying to pick food up off floors to eat, licking people’s faces, drinking swimming pool water, she even licked a snail!
Credit to Isla who has improved a lot over the years and has reduced her mouthing of objects considerably BUT she still does it.
As I sat the other night about to wrap her tooth in tissue and put it under her pillow, then later replace it with a coin I realised it wasn’t safe to do so. There was a chance Isla would put the tooth or the coin, or even both in her mouth if she found them. It was too risky. I thought about other ways to be tooth fairy, maybe I could leave it somewhere else, replace it with a coin high up somewhere Isla couldn’t reach and then I realised something very, very important………
I realised Isla didn’t understand nor care about the tooth fairy and I’d only be doing all of this for ME. So that I could be like every other mum, so that I could play tooth fairy because that’s what every other mum gets to do, that’s what other kids like, that’s just what is done.
We change and we adapt things for Isla at times, we don’t always follow the traditions and the norms of other families, we sometimes have to create our own.
This was just one of those things I couldn’t do for her and I may feel a little robbed of it but she most definitely doesn’t. To her it’s just a tooth, it’s not a whole tooth fairy ritual to get excited about, it’s no big deal. If it’s not important to Isla, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, it shouldn’t matter to me.
So the tooth fairy won’t be visiting this week and when Isla loses that big front tooth that’s hanging on by a thread she won’t visit either.
Instead I will let Isla pick a little treat for herself and I will casually tell her it’s for her being brave when her tooth fell out.
Who wants a quid anyway?
So true. Not even sure who made up the tooth fairy or why, but it is an odd tradition when you think about it. I’ve done it with mine but now have a box of old teeth which I don’t really want but can’t throw away… so silly! Totally understand your feeling of missing out though. It’s another one of those things which is so ingrained into us :/
It is unfortunately. Last night I felt a bit gutted about it but today I just think it’s doesn’t really matter. Isla isn’t bothered so I shouldn’t be x
That was a really interesting read and although we have a few years till we get to wobbly tooth stage it’s something i’ve not really thought about. Going to get a toy sounds like a good idea, hope she picks something nice x
I don’t think you really do think about things until you’re faced with them. She will much prefer a little toy and I know she’s safer that way too x
Awww mini Nanny McPhee!! I didn’t know Isla had Pica, not something my three have ever shown signs of thankfully. You do have to ‘think of everything’ though don’t you. We could be military strategists with the way our brains work!
It was one of the very first things I noticed about Isla. She used to put everything in her mouth. Now it’s just the odd thing thank goodness!
It’s pretty much the same for us! We did the ‘tooth fairy’ thing once or twice when our Penguin was younger, in a supervised fashion (popped the tooth in a little pouch under his pillow before sleep and stayed awake and present until he was asleep, then took it away, and sneeked in a coin-filled pouch in the morning as he was waking up, so that we could then ‘find it’ together). But he didn’t really care and as you say it was more for us adults than for him really, so we don’t bother anymore.
I think Isla looks fab with that single tooth! ☺️x
The tooth fairy is over rated 😂
David wouldn’t get the concept of toothfairy at all. And money currently means nothing to our little chap. When he looses a tooth we celebrate him communicating it to us. That’s a real treat! As always, I say go with what works for you! #spectrumsunday
#spectrumsunday I agree completely. Isla doesn’t get money other than it feels nice in her mouth so what’s the point? I’d rather treat her and not have to worry that she’s going to eat in x
I have yet to see any of Isaac’s teeth and he has lost more than half of them. We don’t do the tooth fairy either as my daughter would have nightmares that some stranger had come into her house while she was asleep and her brother has no idea what any if it is about. It’s so good to hear we are nit a,one in these things! Thanks fir another fab post.
You’re never alone!
I know Isla would find the coin and it would be in her mouth so I’d rather be cautious and not bother. Tooth fairies are overrated anyway x