It was six-year-old Ziva’s first day back at school after the Christmas break. She had loved waking up late. She had loved going out to play after breakfast. And she really loved helping mommy make pancakes at 4’o clock before eating them soon after. But she also missed her friends, especially Taylor, her best friend in the whole world. She was happy and sad at the same time. It was a new feeling.
In the kitchen, she went and stood next to mommy who was packing her lunchbox.
“Mommy, can I get pancakes for school?”
“No, Ziva, you can’t have pancakes for lunch.”
“Not for lunch, but for later.”
“No, you will get snacks at school.”
This made Ziva sadder. “But your pancakes are better, mommy!”
Mommy bent down and gave Ziva a big kiss which made both Ziva and mommy feel better. “I will make you pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, Ziva. Now go finish your Fruit Loops.”
As Ziva sat down at the table, daddy poured some milk into her bowl. “If you finish all of that, I will let you taste my coffee!”
“No, daddy, mommy said I am not old enough to drink coffee.”
“Did she now?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I will give you coffee when you are older.”
Nodding, Ziva dipped the spoon into the cereal and slowly, making sure not to spill a drop of milk, raised it to her mouth.
As she chewed on the soggy and tangy loops, something didn’t feel right in her mouth. After swallowing, she turned to daddy again: “Daddy, my mouth feels weird.”
Daddy raised an eyebrow. “Weird” was one of the new words Ziva had picked up at school and a lot of things had been weird recently.
Still, he peered closely at her face: “What is weird?”
Ziva was poking her teeth with her tongue. “Zis,” she said with her mouth open, pointing to her teeth, “Ish shaking!”
Daddy gently touched the tooth Ziva was pointing to and it slowly moved back under the pressure.
“You have a loose tooth, Ziva!”
Ziva kept poking her tooth and felt it move under her finger.
“Nothing to worry about, Ziva, eat your breakfast! Your tooth will fall out soon.”
This seemed to alarm Ziva.
“It will fall out! Oh no! I don’t want to lose my tooth.”
“You will get a new, bigger tooth in its place.”
“Can’t I keep this tooth too? What if I brush it now?”
“The new tooth won’t have space to grow if this one is still there. And you won’t catch the school bus if you don’t finish your Fruit Loops.”
Ziva nodded and slowly finished the rest of her breakfast. She walked to the door, lost in thought. As daddy handed her the backpack, she had one last question for him: “What if it falls into my mouth and it goes into my tummy?”
“Then it will go into the potty tomorrow together with the Fruit Loops.”
With the big backpack, Ziva walked to the pick-up point which was just down the driveway and got there right as the school bus pulled over, much to daddy’s relief.
Once on the bus, the tooth was soon forgotten as Reese, one of her classmates, had so much to tell her about his Christmas vacation. And once she got to school, there was everyone else, including Taylor.
When the school bus dropped Ziva back at home in the afternoon, Ziva had her head full of ideas for what they could do for next Christmas.
“Can we go to Finland next Christmas, mommy?”
Mommy was busy heating the coconut oil to make fish fry. She looked down from the stove at Ziva.
“Why do you want to go to Finland? Do you even know where it is?”
“That’s where Santa is!”
“Who told you this?”
“Danielle went to Finland and saw reindeer. She said Santa lives there with all the reindeer.”
“Maybe Danielle can take you next year then and you can look for Santa together.”
“I don’t want to go with Danielle! Taylor will feel bad if I go with Danielle.”
Mommy rolled her eyes. “Of course, Ziva, we don’t want that,” and quickly changed the subject: “How is your tooth?”
“Oh, Taylor and Reese poked it. That hurt.” With that, she started playing with it herself, just enjoying how the tooth jiggled under her middle ginger.
“Did it hurt a lot?”
“No.”
Mommy placed the fish, which was covered in masala, into the pan and it started sizzling. The smell of the marinade covered the kitchen soon.
“It smells weird, mommy. It hurts my nose!” Suddenly, Ziva threw her head back: “Ah, aaah, aaaahchooo!”
“Bless you, Ziva.” When mommy turned to look at her, Ziva was staring at something in her palm. It was her tooth, which had fallen loose with the sneeze.
Turning the stove to a low flame, mommy bent down to look at Ziva.
“Does it hurt, baby?”
Ziva was still looking at the tooth. She shook her head but her eyes welled up. Mommy gently turned Ziva’s palm around into her own to take the tooth. She pulled Ziva into a hug. “It is okay, baby, you will feel better soon,” and then kissed Ziva on both cheeks while tears rolled down her face.
Ziva stayed with mommy till she finished cooking, holding on to her dress. When the stove was turned off, mommy took Ziva into the living room.
“Let’s take a look. Open your mouth.”
Ziva opened her mouth wide, just like she had done so many times at the doctor’s. There was a nice gap where the tooth had been. It made mommy smile.
“I am so proud of you, Ziva! You are such a brave girl.”
Ziva sniffled and nodded.
“When you lose your tooth, you get ice cream. Did you know that?”
Ziva shook her head and rubbed her eyes which suddenly sparkled.
“Do you know which flavour you want,” mommy asked.
“I want bubblegum, with marshmallows.”
“Alright, Babygirl, let’s go,” she got up and walked to the door and Ziva followed her.
“I think I will also have bubblegum,” mommy added as she let Ziva into the backseat of the car.
“Did you also lose a tooth, mommy?”
“Oh…no…but don’t you want to share some of your ice cream with mommy?”
“Yes! I will give you some of mine.”
As the car pulled out of the driveway, Ziva had a big smile on her face, the gap in her teeth making her the cutest six-year-old on the street.
Definitely kids story book material - 'Ziva's toothy tales'.