Hard times for the tooth fairy
It can be hard to find subjects to discuss with a three-year-old. Sometimes I dream up a topic to interrupt the play-by-play that issues constantly from Ella’s sweet self these days. That’s what I was doing this weekend when I thought to tell her about the tooth fairy.
In the past few months since the constant talking began in earnest, I’ve realized that listening takes a lot more energy than talking. That means that each day Ella’s and my energy levels are depleting at different rates and I am operating on a serious deficit by the end of the day. So my new strategy is to stem the tide of talk. This is not easy. Activities do not help. They apparently beg for narration and are potent why-generators. The only three things that work are sleep, singing, and me talking.
So I started explaining about teeth. I started with a good hook – that her teeth would eventually fall out. Her silence was tentative as she decided whether this topic was worth her time, and whether I was kidding. She’d been on a real roll of talking and this story came out of nowhere, so I think she was suspicious. Undaunted, I continued. I explained how the teeth would fall out one by one to make room for bigger teeth like mine. I told her that when a tooth fell out she would put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy would fly into her room at night and replace the tooth with some money. It was going well. She was listening and not talking. She wasn’t even looking like she was going to talk. So I finished the story with some superfluous reflections like that’s that and it’s a great system because you can use the money but what would you do with those teeth, etc. It was a disappointingly short tale, actually. Then she asked with a skeptical look, “Will I see the tooth fairy?” Good, more to tell. I said no, you won’t see her because she sneaks in at night like Santa Claus. More skepticism and she asks, “Where will she land?” Thinking fast, I respond that she’ll land on the pillow. Then Ella smiled in a satisfied way like she’d revealed some truth she knew was there all along. She shook her head, still smiling, and said, “No. You’re joking me.” And immediately went back to the matters at hand.
In the past few months since the constant talking began in earnest, I’ve realized that listening takes a lot more energy than talking. That means that each day Ella’s and my energy levels are depleting at different rates and I am operating on a serious deficit by the end of the day. So my new strategy is to stem the tide of talk. This is not easy. Activities do not help. They apparently beg for narration and are potent why-generators. The only three things that work are sleep, singing, and me talking.
So I started explaining about teeth. I started with a good hook – that her teeth would eventually fall out. Her silence was tentative as she decided whether this topic was worth her time, and whether I was kidding. She’d been on a real roll of talking and this story came out of nowhere, so I think she was suspicious. Undaunted, I continued. I explained how the teeth would fall out one by one to make room for bigger teeth like mine. I told her that when a tooth fell out she would put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy would fly into her room at night and replace the tooth with some money. It was going well. She was listening and not talking. She wasn’t even looking like she was going to talk. So I finished the story with some superfluous reflections like that’s that and it’s a great system because you can use the money but what would you do with those teeth, etc. It was a disappointingly short tale, actually. Then she asked with a skeptical look, “Will I see the tooth fairy?” Good, more to tell. I said no, you won’t see her because she sneaks in at night like Santa Claus. More skepticism and she asks, “Where will she land?” Thinking fast, I respond that she’ll land on the pillow. Then Ella smiled in a satisfied way like she’d revealed some truth she knew was there all along. She shook her head, still smiling, and said, “No. You’re joking me.” And immediately went back to the matters at hand.
posted by Rachel Box at 11:30 AM
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