She came!
Lily woke early this morning and immediately had a look under her pillow. At first she was disappointed to see her tooth still there and then saw the little package that was left. A letter and two toonies. Lily was so thrilled AND she gets to keep her teeth for further inspection. Perhaps when all her teeth have fallen out she’ll want to bury them or follow some other practice celebrating her maturing…
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Thanks very much for the comments to my last post. It’s amazing how good such support feels.
After Lily’s appointment, we had to go straight to the ferry terminal in a rush to catch the next ferry to the mainland. I wrote that post within an hour of the appointment when the feelings were still really real and in the moment.
I’m really unsure how it was possible but I did seem to be able to keep my panicked feelings from Lily but I didn’t think I held it together like I wanted to do. I felt so disappointed with how I physically reacted when it seemed to matter the most. I was still feeling all that afraid and queasiness for hours after!
Considering the way Lily reacted at the dentist, it is obvious you gave her exactly the type of support she needed.
When I was little and we happened to find a spider in the house, my mom would calmly take out a plate and glass and involve me in the process of catching it and bringing it outside. I found out a few years back that my mom is TERRIFIED of spiders and it was difficult for her to go anywhere near them (let alone try to catch them!). Now, I’m not afraid of spiders and I consider it a gift that she went against her own fears so that I wouldn’t have them too.
You are a fantastic mother!
I have to second the first commenter… Oh my, it sounds like, even though you had some very strong feelings of your own, you were able to give Lily what she needed. It may not have been as you wanted it to be, but from what you describe, she got through it with your help, and you kept your own feelings from invading her own.
I always hear this from other people (and it doesn’t always help), but the first thing I thought was, “Oh, Annie, you’re being so hard on yourself!” How does it feel to shift to the things that did go well or that seemed okay?
Oh, sorry, Annie, I think I meant to comment on the post before… :)
Stacy, once I was past the panicked feelings, which honestly took a couple days, what I thought about was what I was able to do for her. I’m happy that I was able to shrug off the panicked feelings mostly by then. It was so deeply emotional what I was going through for those couple of days. I know though that when the time comes around again, I’d insist that dh take time off to come too so that I can still support her, with extra support for us all. It was too much for me on my own and I don’t want this time to “make me” gunshy!