Regular readers will remember my last entry was about Noah's visit to the dentist and his very wobbly tooth. It was not wobbly for very long! Within 24 hours we had one very gappy little boy who's smile had never been cuter.
Now, any parent of a non speaking child would agree that it can be so hard to gauge how much they truly understand about the world around them, especially if they also struggle with engagement and interaction, like Noah.
It can make those everyday milestones of traditional parenting tricky to navigate. Visits to Santa's grotto, opening birthday presents, dressing up for Halloween or hunting Easter eggs can end up being high stress events. We're all a little bit guilty of trying to force tradition on our children in the name of fun, or fitting in. Sometimes things go well, and they thrive, and sometimes it can end in a heart full of disappointment and guilt.
Letting go of those milestones can be difficult. They form a huge part of that future we first envisioned when we first held our little bundles, that future that started to blur around the edges once we realised our little bundle was a bit different to everyone elses...
BUT! we don't have to let go of every milestone. What if we can just... tweak them?
Take the tooth fairy, for example:
Noah's first tooth came out with very little fuss from Noah, so little in fact that we found him sitting on it. He hadn't made an issue of it at all! Now, tradition states that we put it under his pillow, and the tooth fairy will exchange it for a coin while he sleeps.
If Noah had woken up to find a nice shiny coin under his pillow, I almost guarantee he would have put it in his mouth at some stage or another. Noah has no concept of money at the moment, so a coin would hold no value to him outside of "oooh shiny!"...
So what did the magical tooth fairy give Noah instead? Sweets. Specifically? HARIBO.
Waking up the morning after he lost that first tooth, and after mummy made a big show of putting it in a little pouch and hiding it under his pillow, when all he wanted to do was sleep, Noah was greeted by his favourite thing in the world, a little pack of Star mix.
That morning he snuggled in between me and my husband and demolished the packet before he brushed his teeth. It made him as happy as 50p under the pillow used to make me. And what would I have spent that 50p on? SWEETS. Just because its tradition, doesn't mean you can't make it your own.
