My little Evie is growing up so fast! This year she finally started to lose her teeth. I’m pretty sure she was one of the last of her classmates to lose one, but since she is the youngest in her grade I reassured her that everything was happening in the right time.

The other day she lost her fourth tooth…while swimming! The tooth had been awkwardly dangling for weeks, so a little unintentional kick from Vivian was all it took to (mercifully) knock it out. We found the tiny thing rolling around under water on the steps. Thank goodness!

In our house, the tooth fairy leaves two dollars. Evie is not organized enough to manage much more than that, and I like the word play between two and tooth (= twooth). Scheming for more than a measly two bucks, Evie recently told me that one of the kids in her class got $50 from the tooth fairy. I pray that no one is actually giving a kid $50 for a lost tooth, but just to appease Evie I asked the tooth fairy to fork over an extra buck on a recent visit.

We paint the dollars with glitter nail polish to make the gift extra special. As an added bonus, the glitter makes it easy for Evie to know when Mack or Vivian swipes the cash. She is the only one missing teeth, so she should be the only one with glittery ones in her wallet!

I think, deep down, Evie knows that Chris and I are the tooth fairy. But, I also think, deep down, that Evie loves the excitement and attention and love that comes along with a late night visit from us. Even on the nights when we don’t have a special two dollar delivery to make, I always take an extra moment to cozy the blankets around her and say a silent prayer of gratitude.

She is growing up.

But she is still my baby.