My Sister Bridget, The Tooth Mouse

Explanation: 

A. Peruvian children do not get visited by a tooth fairy. Instead, they wait patiently for the Tooth Mouse. 

B. My sister Bridget sends presents for Piere in her packages. She's a saint. 

Onward to story hour! 

Rewind about a month. Early May. Piere is tugging at his front tooth like it's his job. He wants nothing more than to rid himself of his front-right diente. 

Rewind About a month and a half. Bridgie sends me an Easter package with a coloring book for Piere, and UNO cards for me. I already got UNO cards in a package earlier this year (thanks Annah ;). So I decide to save the cards for Piere. I didn't want to give them to him at the same time as the coloring book. May as well space things out. Piere had found some UNO cards, exactly like the ones I have, at the local bodega. He had been bugging Maggie to buy them from Señor Alvarez for him for months.  I tell Maggie about the cards from my sister and we agree to save them until he loses his tooth. Operation: Bridget The Tooth Mouse is born. 

On Wednesday May 9th it happened. I was gone from around 8am to about 8pm on a random long day with my community partner from the school district. When I came home, Piere was delighted to tell me that his tooth had finally fallen out. "Breeeetttt! Ya salió!" was shouted before I even made it into the driveway that night. His excitement lit up the house. My natural reaction to this was to ask him if the Tooth Mouse was coming that night. His response was epic. 

"No, he's not available tonight. When he does come, I'm going to ask for S/. 20 instead of just one. That's what he gets for making me wait. It took me 2 weeks to get this tooth out." 

I cracked up, of course, and shared a look with Maggie. After Piere went to bed, Maggie explained that they didn't have any extra solcitos to give him that night, so they told him the Tooth Mouse was busy that night and wouldn't be able to come. I gave her the cards, she remembered our deal, then thanked me profusely. 

The next morning at 6:14am, I woke up to this, "LOOK! MOMMMMMMM! LOOK WHAT THE TOOTH MOUSE BROUGHT ME!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!! GRANDMA, GRANDMA, LOOOOK!!! MY OWN CARDS! JUST LIKE BREETT'S" Mission accomplished. Score for Bridget. 

While Piere freaked out and celebrated, I stayed in my room so he would make it to school on time. He dawdles in the morning and I knew he would want to play with his new cards. So later that afternoon when I came home for lunch, Piere was leaning in the doorway waiting for me, UNO cards in hand. 

"Breett, look what I got?!" 

This was my opportunity to mess with him. 

"Piere, where did you get those? Are those my cards? Were you going through my stuff?" 

"Breeeetttt, no! These are mine! I got them from the Tooth Mouse!" 

"How does the Tooth Mouse carry cards?"

"I don't know, but he brought them for me last night! I think he bought them from Señor Alvarez!" 

He then proceeded to come into my room with me, open my drawer, and show me that my cards were in their place. 

"See? Now we both have them!" 

And there's where I gave in and celebrated with him. He was so delighted. Wish Bridget could have seen it. 

Only problem is... he keeps losing teeth. Since then, he has lost 2 more teeth and has had to wait for the Tooth Mouse to be "available" to bring him some soles. After a few days of waking up to nothing beneath his pillow. He shared this thought with us at breakfast. 

"Mom. I think we need to fire this Tooth Mouse. He didn't come AGAIN." 

Well, that must have been the Tooth Mouse's warning, because he showed up that night with some shiny new coins for Piere. Peace has been restored in our household and, at least for now, the wiggling has stopped and the Tooth Mouse can rest. By the looks of Piere's friends though, he has more teeth to lose. That whole class probably has about 13 teeth among the group. Ah, first grade. 

Here he is after the second front tooth had fallen. 

Thanks Bridget for the UNO cards. You have no idea how happy you made a 6 year old child about a month ago. You have a way with the first graders. Still got it :)