j & the toothfairy

i love my job.
love it.
today i have to brag about how awesome it is, and how freakin' funny those babes are.


"j" lost his tooth last week. not just lost, but lost it while eating carrots, and noticed like thirty minutes later. he screamed "MISS DAVIS!!!" he then told me (all of this in hysterics, with his cute little seven-year-old lisp) that he lost his tooth.
i instantly thought, "he swallowed it."
but of course we had to search the classroom high & low for this tooth. (while it jiggled around in his tummy. it's whatev.)
i finally explained to him that it was in his tummy.
"NOoooOOooooOOO!!! I have to get MONEY!"
i.
tried.
every.thing.
to calm him down.
& he was absolutely hysterical. tears in his bambi eyes [you know, bambi eyes... like... how little kids have big round eyes when they're sad? those are the ones.] & whimpery noises... the whole she-bang.
& did i mention this kid is ADORABLE?? absolutely precious.
so it broke my heart.
(&, ok, i giggled inside a little, too...)
finally, i broke out my last resort:
"do you want me to call the tooth fairy? we're friends..." --me
[instantly calm] "Yeah!" --j
hahahaha. what an awesome kid.
so "the toothfairy" told me that if he wrote a letter to her, and explained what happened, she'd still come.


good news, folks.
one short phone call home to mom (she's besties with the tooth fairy, too?? hmm, weird...), and twenty minutes spent on a letter to the toothfairy,
and j got a visit from none other than the tooth fairy, that night!
*whew!*


so, today, he came up to me with the biggest grin on his face, and handed me a card. it was a thank you card from his mom, for helping him write the letter, and she was so sweet; in it he wrote "thank you. i got two dollars."
hahahaha. i love that kid.
basically, today i remembered why i want this career. not necessarily because i love teaching seven year olds that the fifth tally mark is a slant ("close the gate!"). not necessarily because i enjoy reminding them every five minutes to control their bodily functions ("get your hands out of your pants," "go blow your nose," "stop spitting on your neighbors," etc. <--true life: these all happened this week. score.) not necessarily because i enjoy reminding them a thousand and three times to put their listening ears on.
but because i love that grin.
because i love when you see something click in their heads. when they finally get that thing you've been teaching them alllll week.
because i love knowing that it matters.
& because i love those kiddos.


good day.
today i'm grateful for amazing kids who make me laugh, & their mommas who notice the little things i do, and thank me [when i most needed to hear it mattered...]


[blessed.]