Do You Believe in Magic?

Well, we survived our first dental procedure today. Amelia's tooth broke last night and we had the ensuing panic that she would have to have surgery. We called her dentist last night, who told me to call this morning and they would squeeze her in. We went in, and they pulled her tooth with a little help from some bubble gum flavored laughing gas. Amelia did great! She laid in that chair and let them do everything they were supposed to. They wiggled her tooth out. She was so brave! And so funny. I've watched many videos of kids on YouTube being goofy after having procedures and if I wasn't so busy giggling, I might have been one of those moms that videotaped it and posted it for the world to see. Immediately after they started the gas, she started waving her arms around like she was dancing. She was singing and humming and tapping her feet, and waving her arms. It was adorable. I asked her if she was practicing the Nutcracker and she said, "No!" I asked her if she was practicing for her December ballet recital and she said, "No!" I asked her what she was doing and she told me to wait just a minute...she needed to finish her song. As I was watching her dance, and hearing her hum I realized she was singing "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" I giggled at her some more, and then that part of the procedure was over. She said, I was singing Do Your Ears Hang Low...and I was also dancing the Hamster Dance. It made me laugh! Which was good because I was so nervous for my baby girl that if I didn't have that little comic relief, I might have burst into tears for her! It's hard to be a momma and not be able to take away your baby's pain! Ugh! Hated that...so laughing gas helped me to focus as well and not freak out in front of my already nervous daughter. Amelia's big concern was that she didn't take care of her teeth, when in reality, the dentist told us there was nothing she (or we!) could have done to prevent it. Her tooth got an infection in the center of the tooth and it eventually started eating itself from the inside and the tooth eventually died. There was no cavity. There was no decay. It wasn't from lack of brushing. She said she rarely sees it in children and she was perplexed as to why it happened. I began to worry that maybe it was because Amelia doesn't eat dairy, and therefore doesn't get much calcium, but the dentist said that wasn't the reason either. There was nothing we could have done! After the procedure, I wanted to take my baby home, eat ice cream and snuggle on the couch. She wanted to get back to school and get back to work. Mostly, she wanted to get back to school to be with her bestie, which warmed my heart. She said, "Mommy, you know you have your people and you need them...well L***** is my person and I need her right now and I want to be with her." So, I let her go back to school. I stopped by Safeway and dropped off her prescription, picked up two pints of ice cream, and went to her school. We sat and ate ice cream together for lunch, and then, after great insistance from Amelia that she needed to get back to class, I gave her a kiss and my mom delivered her to her classroom. I was a proud momma! She is such a brave little soldier and such a trooper! In fact, when the dentist was done, Amelia told her that she wanted to do that again sometime. The dentist laughed and said, "Amelia, I think you may the only little person who has ever requested to do it again!" So, we giggled again! What a girl! So, tonight I'm tucking her into bed and she looks at me. And our just one more thing mommy moment began: "Mommy, it's going to be a crazy night!" My heart sank because Amelia is very perceptive and I assumed she was thinking that we would have nightmares. I asked her why and she said, "Well, the Great Pumpkin will be here...and the Tooth Fairy will be here. Do you suppose they'll just ride together?" I smiled and told her that she was probably right. Then that lead into a hundred other questions and thoughts, all presented sort of rapid-fire without me getting a word in: Do you think they all live together? Isn't there a movie about that? Does Santa live there too...of course he doesn't. He's at the North Pole. Do you think they just hang out? I think maybe Santa and the Great Pumpkin live together because they are both kind of the same in that they both bring us treats. And then the Tooth Fairy must live with the Easter Bunny because I think that they tooth fairy is pink and blue, and those are kind of Easter Bunny colors too, so they would match and they could live together. Oh great! What about the Elf on the Shelf. He lives with Santa so maybe the Great Pumpkin and Santa are like his mom and dad. But I think Santa and the Great Pumpkin are both boys so I don't know about that. Do they drive? Do they fly? I think the Tooth Fairy flies, but the Great Pumpkin probably just rolls. Do you think they'll both be in our house at the same time? What if they wake me up and then I don't get anything from either one of them! And there were maybe 50 more questions and phrases that I couldn't store to memory, but these were the better ones. I smiled at her and said that I think her ideas were all fabulous and that maybe they were all right, but we would probably never know for sure. She asked me how everything like that works together and I simply looked at her shrugged my shoulders and said, "Magic! You just have to believe that it all works together because of magic!" She smiled, said, "Good answer, mommy. I love ya!" and rolled over. I sat there for a minute, thinking about magic. She sat up in bed and in her exasperated voice said, "Well, what are you waiting for! Get to bed! No one will ever come with you lollygagging around here!" I stood up, told her one more time that I loved her and that I was so proud of her, and heading to the living room. And then the magic begins. Being that both of our magical entities were coming in one night, I needed to remember everything I was supposed to do. So, I dumped the tooth pieces deep into the trash can. Pulled a gold $1.00 coin out of the back of my secret drawer and threw those into the tooth pillow hanging on her door. I cut out the tooth shape paper I try to always remember to use and wrote her a note from the tooth fairy (this will have to stop soon...she's too smart to not notice that it's my handwriting.) I stuck the note inside the tooth pillow and then I started on the Great Pumpkin's chores. I wrote the poem for their treat for the night and stuck it behind the "30" door on the haunted house. I hid their treats where the poem led them to. And then I stood in the middle of the living room thinking...anything I missed? Any step I forgot? Any piece that I needed to do differently to make that magic? And when I decided it was perfection, I turned off the lights and came back to enter my blog post. My heart is content right now. And I know that part of it is the euphoria that I have been experiencing for the last few weeks. The excitement about life and healing and moving on, but part of it is magic! I believe in magic! Even if I'm the one that makes it happen, I believe in Tooth Fairies and Great Pumpkins, and Santa, and the Easter Bunny. I believe that the world is a better place when we can believe in the magic for as long as possible. My sweet sister and I just had this conversation because our children are getting older...and they are so darn smart! They figure things out. Amelia asks questions about how they get into our house, or how they know things about them. Amelia's cousin is older and she is asking her mom the same questions. Kids at school are talking and she is not sure what she believes anymore. And my sister is struggling with what to do with that. How to explain it to her...does she have to explain it to her yet...what would the consequences of not telling her be? And it breaks my heart that my sister is going through that with her children for several reasons: I don't want the magic to be over for my niece and nephew...I don't want the magic to be over for my children...I don't want the magic to be over for me! Nothing makes my heart happier than watching my children wake up in the morning and run to the haunted house to see what the Great Pumpkin had to say. Or waking up and checking the tooth pillow for their dollar and their note. Or racing down the hall Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. And probably mostly for the fact that when they stop believing in the magic, they are grown up! And I'm not ready for them to be grown up. I want them to be my babies forever. I want them to believe in the magic! Forever! I know that this can't happen. I know that they will eventually know who the Tooth Fairy really is, or who brings the Great Pumpkin's treats...but I want to cling to that magic forever. I honestly believe we need magic! We NEED to believe in magic! We need to believe in fun and holidays and traditions! We need these special moments to help slow down life that is flying by at a million miles an hour. Because I know that time slows even if just a little when I am writing a note from a very proud tooth fairy, or leading my little ones on a scavenger hunt from the Great Pumpkin because I am a kid once again. Memories of simpler times flood into my head, and I can see life through the eyes of my children. Knowing that there is magic is so important! Believing in that magic is a must! Because when we stop believing, when we stop taking little moments to make things special, we all grow up! So, I don't know what I would do in my sister's case...I'm not sure I would have any advice for my sister on what to do. And it breaks my heart to think that I will most likely be in her shoes in a few years. But I do know one thing...when that moment comes, I hope that Amelia can look back and see the magic that happened in our house. And even though there wasn't some grand meeting between the Tooth Fairy and the Great Pumpkin on October 30th, 2013 at midnight in our living room, there was magic! And we all need a little magic...