Going Back

Can you tell what's missing from this picture?  Kayla's front tooth.  It came out one morning last week when she let Jack pull it.  Yes- she LET Jack pull it.  Not me or her dad but her big brother.  He was proud of that.  There is something so cute about little kids when they lose their top teeth.  I love it.
I remember that feeling.  How loose the tooth was, the feel of my dad's fingers when he would try to pull it, the jokes about tying my tooth to a door and slamming it.  But as I quietly opened Kayla's door the other night, what came back loud and clear was waiting for the tooth fairy.  Laying in bed, I would hear noises that I never noticed any other night.  Must have just been my pulse on my pillow but when I was waiting for the tooth fairy I was sure that the sound I heard was her, tip-toeing around, gathering up my tooth and leaving the much anticipated prize.  A quarter, a dime or two. 
And so playing tooth fairy, even to a little one who knows full well the identity of the tooth fairy, took me back, even as the roles are reversed now.  This little game is a fun one.  One of those wonderful perks of being their mom.