Felt Tooth Pillow

I've decided that the tooth fairy has a hard job. I mean, digging around under the pillow of a sleeping kid just to find a teensy-weensy little piece of bone? Not to mention trying desperately not to wake up that sleeping child in order to keep her identity a secret. It must be difficult.

The tooth fairy tried to visit our house a few nights ago, and it wasn't pretty. I heard that she searched for nearly 10 minutes to find my daughters tooth, even though we had thoughtfully placed it in a plastic sandwich bag so that it would be easier for her. When she finally felt that bag in her fingers and yanked ... she nearly woke the silly girl who had a death-grip on that plastic baggie in her sleep! Needless to say ... the tooth fairy gave up after that, and left my daughter a note saying she'd be back the next day.

To make it easier for her (she's got at least 24 more trips to our house ... YIKES!), I made this tooth pillow out of a few pieces of scrap felt that I had laying around. It was pretty easy: trace tooth shape onto two pieces of white felt, sew pink pocket on one side (leaving top open), place white pieces right-sides together, sew - leaving a space to turn inside out, turn inside out, stuff, and stitch the opening closed. Okay ... it sounds a little more involved than it really is. Anyway, I thought it turned out pretty cute, and thought I'd share!

Anyone else have a crazy tooth fairy story to share?

Harmless childhood obsessions?

My son was recently handed down an old t-shirt with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it. Now, that's fine by me ... I love hand-me-downs, and I think those Turtles are pretty radical, you know?

My problem arises from the fact that he never, ever wants to take the shirt off. He wants to sleep in it, go to family gatherings in it, even go swimming in it!! No matter the amount of dirt, grime, peanut butter and jelly, or chocolate on that t-shirt ... it's a fight to get him to take it off for me to wash it. And he's usually a pretty dirt-phobic little boy.

I'm pretty sure it's not gonna cause any psychological damage if I MAKE him wash it every once in a while, but I sure hate the fight that it causes!

Any advice?

3-Year olds and Plungers ...

My son has this weird obsession with plungers. Yes, plungers ... like the ones that you use in the bathroom to unclog things. Last year, he asked me to get him one for Christmas. He didn't get one, I just couldn't bring myself to put a plunger under the tree, and I couldn't find any toy versions.

Anyway, today we went to the dollar store and he spotted a whole ROW of plungers! He was in plumber heaven! So he gets so excited he can barely even speak, runs over and grabs the nearest one, asks me to buy it for him, then proceeds to jump up and down and squeal with delight as he waits for my answer. Of course, as a mother I just can't see buying him a plunger (of all things!) but I did take a minute to think it over before offering a response. In the meantime, he flips it over and actually SMELLS it! What possessed him to smell the thing, I'll never know ... but he decided at that moment that it smelled very bad, and that he didn't want it anymore.

Whew! Crisis averted. I don't know if his obsession ended that abruptly, but he definitely didn't ask for another one all day. 

What about you, do your kids have fixations on odd things?

Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting!

Living with my kids is like living in a goofy comedy movie filled with Looney Tunes and Power Rangers. My son loves to race through the house, strike random warrior poses, and kick things. My daughter likes to see how many ridiculous things that she can say with one breath, laugh hysterically for no apparent reason, and her favorite sport is spinning in circles until she can't stand up anymore.

They get along really well with one another, really ... until she spins herself into a frenzy and falls into his foot while it's flying through the air (and it wasn't aimed at her intentionally, mind you).

Of course, then she starts crying so I figured I should make him apologize, even though it WAS an accident ... but the stubborn little boy refused to say that he was sorry! I mean he literally chose to stand in the corner rather than just give his big sis a quick hug and a simple apology! So he winds up in time out and she's crying with an icepack on her cheek, and all the while I'm trying my best not to laugh at the whole crazy situation.