soft landing for the tooth fairy

We're expecting her again tonight. Iris lost the other front one today, at school on her second day of first grade. It's a big deal to lose a tooth at school - you get to wear it home in a little tooth-shaped box on a sparkly green string around your neck. Iris' grin was almost too wide to fit through the doorway of the school bus this afternoon, missing teeth and all.

We planned this tooth fairy pillow together. She picked the fabric from Loom (which has a whole shelf devoted to fairy prints) and I copied her writing in embroidery floss colors of her choosing. I admit it can be very hard for the control freak in me to reliquish design decisions to a 6-year-old. I have always had very specific ideas. But let's keep in mind who this was really for. I was just the seamstress. I think it turned out just as Iris hoped and she is really happy with it.

And so am I, because this was the first time I have made much of anything in a very long time. It was simple and very satisfying.


Kai worked alongside me, cutting magazine subscription cards to "make a house."