Gap-toothed Grins and Domestic Disasters

It's happened. Our little Mary (at the ripe old age of 4.5) has lost not one, but both of her lower front teeth. She lost the first one in the morning during a toothbrushing session. The second one came out in the afternoon, all on its own.

So, now to the domestic disaster part of the post. The part that I'm a bit, ahem, reluctant to admit. For Christmas, I was given a sewing machine from the Loebs. What a wonderful gift! But, a gift that this homemaker is truly lacking the talent to use. Seriously lacking. Pathetically lacking.

However, two missing teeth in Mary's mouth required an urgent trip to the fabric store to make a tooth fairy pillow. Now I must admit, my own tooth fairy pillow as a child was fashioned by my wonderful neighbor Mrs. Gorman. It was a beautiful big "M" shape with a sturdy little pocket for my pearly whites. I just might have set the bar too high when comparing any creations I might sew to the fabulous Mrs. G's sewing sensations.

At the fabric store (a wonderful little boutique place with gorgeous textiles on Hawthorne), I still foolishly believed that I could sew any shape Mary's heart desired. So, I let Mary pick her favorite fabrics, while I confidently selected matching threads. Then, as the owner was ringing up our purchases, I mentioned that this was my first sewing project since 8th grade Home Economics. She smiled politely and murmured kindly, "Mmmm...well a pillow is a nice, easy place to start!"

Darn her. Nice, easy place to start? That is not what I was thinking as I was struggling to thread the machine and wind the bobbin. After thirty stressful minutes (and quite a bit of help from Curtis, who has a much better memory of Home Ec class than I do!), I was finally ready to sew the pillow. When Mary decided that her heart desired a heart-shaped pillow (and not a letter M), I breathed a huge sigh of relief. A heart...how hard can it be, right? Well, the photo is evidence of that. I mistakenly forgot to use a back-stitch, so the pocket is already peeling off. The gorgeous heart looks rather misshapen now that it's stuffed to the brim. And, of course, I choose to make the opening for the "stuffing" on the most difficult spot of the pillow where the two heart tips come together in the center, leading to all kinds of puckering and unpleasantries. Needless to say, it's a hideous creation and hardly fitting for the special occasion.

But, Mary didn't seem to mind. She placed her teeth in the unraveling pocket and fell fast asleep. And, despite the pillow's awful appearance, the tooth fairy delivered. Two special coins, one per tooth. Whew.

It's a good thing I have a few years to practice before Lucy's turn comes along!