Tag Archives: #Tulani

Losing Teeth

September 9, 2025generations#Ayanna, #Azaria, #Aziya, #Cabral, #Imani, #Jilo, #Marsha, #Maya, #Mumia, #Olivia, #Tulani, #Tyra, ife williams, James A. Williams, meKristin

This is the first of a series of posts comparing experiences across the generations,. Some milestones that may be covered will be losing teeth, learning to read, going to bed, waiting for holidays, school days and others that may be suggested by family members.

Today we share memories of losing teeth from family members ages six through 80.

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Jilo: Mommy did you have an active tooth fairy retrieving your teeth as a child? Did daddy?

Me: I did. She would take our teeth and leave a dime or maybe a quarter, along with a box of Jujyfruits or Good and Plenty. I was talking to Pearl about the tooth fairy and she said “I remember a quarter but no candy! I think the tooth fairy played favorites lol.” I’m sure I remember a little box of candy under my pillow. Maybe by the time Pearl was losing teeth, the tooth fairy had decided against leaving candy.

Ife: Mommy, the tooth fairy left you candy? That sounds like something done to keep those teeth coming.

Me: It does seem incongruous. But I’ve heard that the Tooth Fairy does like candy!

Me: Your father/grandfather remembers nothing about a tooth fairy or money or even losing teeth. Your uncle Michael remembers the tooth fairy and getting a dollar under his pillow.

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My collection of my children’s lost teeth.

I used to save all of my children’s teeth. Didn’t someone find them? I still have them and they are so small!

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Tulani: I don’t remember losing any teeth, but I do remember getting 50 cents from the tooth fairy and putting teeth under my pillow. I also remember finding all the saved teeth in your jewelry box one time when Jilo banished me to your room for fighting with Ife or something, and I was looking through your jewelry box. I was older and don’t recall being disappointed.
No teeth under pillows for my children. And no money. Just the satisfaction of ripping a tooth out. Except Tatayana who worked the system and got whatever money Jilo was handing out.

Tatayana: I don’t think I ever believed in the tooth fairy, but I knew some of my cousins did so I’m pretty sure a few times when my teeth fell out I went to spend the night at Aunt Jilo’s because they got a few dollars there when their teeth fell out . I definitely used to push my teeth out. I also remember having Futch tie one of my teeth to dental floss and pull it out when I couldn’t get it out myself .

Matthew: “My very first loose tooth came out when I was eating spaghetti. I was sure it was blood, but it was just sauce! I don’t believe in the tooth fairy and don’t think I ever did. Big foot and tooth fairy same old same old. Just stories and not true. I collect my teeth and keep them in a box. Sometime I go back and look at them and remember how I lost them. “. I asked him his favorite tooth memory and he smiled a big smile and said, “that summer at the hotel when it was loose and dad tied it to a piece of dental floss to the door and slammed the door to yank it out. The first two times I was scared and moved with the door, but the third time it worked!”

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Me: As a continuing part of my losing teeth investigation, when Azaria and Aziya were here for my birthday celebration, I asked them if they put their teeth under their pillow and if they found any money in the morning. Aziya nodded. Azaria said that they did put their teeth under their pillows and they found $3 in the morning. She added that her mother didn’t have a tooth fairy when she was little, she had a tooth rat. Luckily I was able to ask Marsha and get her story.

Marsha: Lol…When I was little, I didn’t imagine the usual sparkly tooth fairy. Mine was a little rat dressed up as Abu from Aladdin. The night I placed my tooth under my pillow after watching Aladdin and I must’ve been half-asleep when I pictured Abu rat sneaking in to take my tooth. The next day I told my mom what I saw, and she thought it was so cute . So now my mom shares that story with Azaria and Aziya. Now it’s kind of become a sweet little family memory.

Me: When I asked Cabral if he remembered losing teeth and getting money under his pillow or anything, he replied kinda but not really. Tulani remembers when Cabral was about five he was sledding down the hill in front of the house and hit the fence post and lost a front tooth. He lost the other front tooth soon afterwards. They were out a long time.

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Dear Tooth fairy Why did you not responde and come yesterday? How are you please write

Tyra: I didn’t have any change. After that, I started keeping a stock of Dollar Store trinkets. Maya lost a tooth in an apple at lunch and the tooth came home in a baggie of cracker crumbs. We thought the tooth was lost but the tooth fairy visited anyway. I found the baggie in her lunch box the next morning.

Tyra: I got silver coins, probably 50 cents? I left a dollar until i started leaving trinkets. I didn’t always have cash. And Maya didn’t always tell me she had a loose tooth. They liked the trinkets. Money was less gratifying. I needed to be fairy ready! The loose to lost process seemed to go pretty quickly with them. Two or three days. Olivia lost three teeth in one day. Once she got over the fear of pain, she pulled her own teeth.

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Jilo: I didn’t aggressively try to get teeth to fall out but I wiggled them when they were loose. When the tooth came out, I put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy came, took the tooth and left money. I don’t remember how much, but I remember being excited and looking forward to it. Also trying to stay awake to see her come. I believed in the tooth fairy until the time I put a tooth under my pillow and it was still there in the morning. When I told mommy she said “Oh! With Ayanna being sick I didn’t get a chance to get your tooth last night.” I still haven’t recovered. I don’t think that she knew that I really believed the tooth fairy was real. I mean why wouldn’t the tooth fairy be real when the other fairies are out there doing fairy things. To be honest I don’t think I stopped believing, I just figure she had a group of helpers like any international business woman would.

Hasina: Can confirm that at the Tisdale house we had the tooth fairy! I did make mine fall out faster – my favorite technique was to wiggle the tooth until I could fit the tip of my tongue underneath it to then push up and pop the tooth out. I think we got a dollar per, in cash or coin form.

Abeo: I honestly don’t remember much about the tooth fairy or loosing teeth. But I did have to have a tooth pulled out at the dentist cause an adult tooth grew in fully and the baby tooth wasn’t even loose or wiggly. Still got a crooked bottom tooth to show for it

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Sydney: I second that, the Graham household also had the tooth fairy.

Sydney: I feel like a dollar sounds right or maybe even 25 cents per tooth I don’t remember. I did not push my teeth out. I would wait until it was hanging on by a literal thread and my mom would have to pull it while i was sleeping.

Ife: The Graham House did have a fairy. She brought $1 per tooth in quarters. Occasionally she missed a pickup, usually Sydney’s, and I would tell Sydney that she hadn’t come because Sydney hadn’t slept enough and she didn’t want to be seen. Then we would leave the tooth another night and she would eventually get it.

Sydney would not wiggle her teeth much, like she was afraid of having them come out and several times her gums would grow around the teeth to keep it from falling out and we had to go to the dentist to get them out. Extra healthy gums were to blame. I still have all the teeth in dated little ziplock bags in my bedside table. What does a mother do with the teeth after the fairy turns over possession?

Sean and Sydney also argued with me about the existence of the fairy when I finally told them she wasn’t real. They had evidence to prove she did.

Ayanna: @ife do you have enough to make a line of smiling mugs?

Ife: Ayanna , I will look but I’m pretty sure they are such tiny teeth, they might need to be shot glasses ife

Abeo: I love that you still have Sean and Sydney’s lil teeth, ife!

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Kylett: I don’t recall ever believing in the tooth fairy. I think Cecelia might have had the tradition of giving us a quarter or two if we lost a tooth. She just gave the coins directly to us. I don’t remember any associations with us going to sleep or finding it under our pillow. Unfortunately I think for at least two of my teeth, they came out while I was eating and I accidentally swallowed them. I can’t recall what happened with the other teeth, we might have just thrown them away.

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James: Mumia remembers losing his first tooth at 4 years old. He let it come out at its own speed, not much pushing or rushing it. Once it was out, he thinks he got 5 dollars and 50 cents for it. At the time, he did believe that money came from the tooth fairy.

Ayanna: $5.50 for one tooth!

James: I remember losing an adult tooth when I was about 10. There was still part of the tooth left so the dentist put a filler on there. They said over time it would die and it would need to be pulled out, but so far so good. When I look at it, it’s shaped a bit differently, but it hasn’t given me any trouble. I remember losing another adult tooth at 15 or 16, when I was playing basketball in the street over by Reed’s house.
I don’t have much detail to my memories about losing my baby teeth. I am pretty sure we got 50 cents, but am not sure about the amount (vaguely remember that it was coins rather than paper though).

Ayanna: I remember nothing, really. I am sure we had visits from a nice tooth fairy or maybe I never lost any teeth? I still believe in the tooth fairy.

James: I agree with Ayanna. I heard stories about the tooth fairy leaving money when I was a kid, but I didn’t really believe in her – until I met her at a community festival earlier this year (apparently, she lives in Seattle).

Here is an article about her in the NYT, The Tooth Fairy Is Real. She’s a Dentist in Seattle.

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James: Imani and I made plans to try and catch the tooth fairy in action for a couple of her teeth that were lost over here. No luck yet though. The plans were nothing too extravagant, just stacking a few toys by the window, so the tooth fairy would knock them down if she came in that way, and me saying I would check on her often once she fell asleep and snap a picture of the Fairy if I came in when she was switching the tooth.

“Imani says she does know about the tooth fairy. When she lost her last tooth she left a little doll bed and snack size bag of skittles out on her dresser for the Tooth Fairy. In the morning, the skittles were gone!!!”

James: I was like “Wow. I didn’t even know that the Tooth Fairy liked Candy.”

Imani smiled and responded, “Well, I guess now you know… ” she thought about it a few seconds then added, “all the skittles were gone so she definitely does like Candy!”

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Other information about the Tooth Fairy . It turns out there is a well known Tooth Rat – “El Ratoncito Rerez” who takes teeth and leaves something under the pillow in Spanish speaking countries! And La Petite Souris (The Little Mouse) who preforms tooth duties in France and French speaking Belgium.

Tooth Fairy
Lillian Brown introduces the modern Tooth Fairy 1908
Ratoncito Perez

Y – A YEAR for Tulani – 1996

April 29, 2023A-Z Challenge 2023#Idlewild, #TulaniKristin

This is my tenth A to Z Challenge. My first was in 2013, but I missed 2021. This April I am going through the alphabet using snippets about my family through the generations.

My daughter Tulani homeschooled for her middle and high school years. At that time the Baldwin Schools allowed homeschoolers to participate in sports and some other school activities. This is an article she wrote for our family newsletter Ruff Draft about her senior year.

Tulani’s Year

by Tulani Williams
From The Ruff Draft – Spring/Summer 1996 page 10

This is my senior year in high school, and I can say that this year I did it all. I played varsity basketball, volunteered at the veterinarian’s clinic, was a cheerleader for boys basketball, took a trip to Houston, am running track for the fourth straight year and I even attended the Prom!

In the fall, I was on the varsity basketball team. I played shooting guard. Although I am not much for shooting or dribbling. This was my first time ever playing organized basketball and at first it was a little confusing. All the new plays and all the baskeball jargon, but I caught on. We had a rough season. Lots of girls quit and by the last game there were only six of us. The referees were a constant problem. Wherever we went, they seemed to be against us, even on our home court. We lost a lot of games that we should have won, but at the end of the season we picked up our game and played like we knew we could. We blew out a team that had beat us by more than twenty points the last time around. We even made it to the second round of the playoffs. This is something that a girls team from Baldwin, hasn’t done in awhile. But then the referees got to us and we lost the second round. I enjoyed myself this season and I’m glad that I had a chance to play.

Since I enjoy being around and working with animals, I am considering a career in veterinarian medicine. I had the opportunity to observe at the clinic where I take my dogs. The staff at the clinic was more than happy to have me hanging around. My first day I witnessed a spaying. The operation was preformed on a dog. She was a small white toy poodle. She was frail enough when she was fully alert and trying to bounce off the table. After she had been sedated and laid out on the table, she looked near, if not completely, dead. The doctor started the surgery, telling me that if at any point I felt uncomfortable I should leave. I assured him that I was fine. Well, it turned out that the combination of smells, the little dog laid out spread eagle on the operating table and the whole idea of cutting into a living animal and taking out her insides, was a little too much for me. I felt faint and quickly moved away from the operating room.

After that first incident I got used to the whole process. The smells no longer made me nauseous and I even had the opportunity to help with some of the operations. I didn’t get to do any of the cutting or anything as major as that, but I did get to hand the doctor the suture material and other tools. Having this experience was very good for me. If I do decide to major in Veterinarian Medicine, I will already have an idea of what I will be working towards doing.

During the winter I was on the boys basketball cheer leading team. I was, as several of my friends told me, the worse cheerleader Baldwin had seen in awhile. I’m sure that had something to do with the fact that I didn’t really care about what I was doing. I never really took the time and effort to perfect all the cheers. And it was impossible for me to look at cheering as a sport, like some of my teammates did. Because to me it just wasn’t.

The first two weeks in April, I had a chance to go down to Houston, Texas. I visited my grandfather Jaramogi, and my sister Ayanna. I stayed with Ayanna. While I was there I went to class with her. She is attending Texas Southern University. Her health professor was a real idiot. He told the class that it was just as good to drink six cups of pop a day as it was to drink eight cups of water. Or, he said, if you had a gallstone, perhaps it was better to just drink beer! Her English professor was sort of a ditz, she treated the class as though they didn’t know anything at all, but it wasn’t really their fault…after all, most of them were black. Her math professor was good. She explained things well and I understood what she was saying.

While I was there, I also went to a movie with my grandfather. I don’t remember what it was we were supposed to go see, but we saw Fargo. It was sort of a sick, psychopath, murder, comedy thing. We all agreed it was the worst movie we had seen in awhile.

All in all, I had a great visit. It was hot, but they all told me to come back in June, and the tree’s were all out. Houston seemed like a nice enough place, aside from the horrible smog on overcast days. It was very nice to see my grandfather and sister.

Then, I went to the prom. Up until the day of the prom I really had no plans to go. Then at four thirty (prom started at eight) a female friend called me and asked if I would go with her because she really wanted to go and her date had backed out at the last minute. She really wanted to go, but didn’t want to go by herself. I told her that if she could find me a dress I liked then I would probably go. She called me back and had two dresses she’d found. She assured me that if I didn’t like them, she would find more. One was an awful bright red thing. It was short with two odd ruffles and a tight bodice with spaghetti straps. The other was a nice dress, it was the one I wore. It came down to about the top of my knees. It was black and white with a white ruffle. Prom itself was quite boring. Mostly people just came and took pictures of each other and sat around trying to look glamorous. My friend and I both decided as we drove home that we had just wasted quite a bit of time and we agreed one thing for sure, we wouldn’t be going back next year!

Now I am running. This year the girls team is very small. There are six of us total, but only one of us is really there to run. That would be me! The rest of them are there because they have a boyfriend on the team or there is a guy they like on the team and they want to keep an eye on him. So on the rare occasion that they do come to practice, they usually sit around on the field and discuss their problems. Needless to say I am concentrating on my personal events this year – the 100 and 200 meter dashes. I am supposed to be on the 400 relay, but I refuse to run with girls who refuse to practice. We have already had two meets and I am undefeated in my personal events. The girls relay came in second at one meet and first at another. I ran anchor (last) in both meets. Our next meet is a big one and hopefully the weather will cooperate and it won’t be canceled. This year I am hopefully going to be competing in the state meet. There is a good chance that I will be all conference and first in our regional meet. I am spending a lot of time working on my starts and trying to cut down on my time in the 100. My personal best is 12.3 seconds. If it would get down just a little warmer and the wind would die down, I should be able to run at least a 12.0 flat.

Next fall I will be going to Central Michigan University.

Tulani’s Birth Story 1978

May 28, 2014Biography, sepia saturday#hair, #me, #mississippi, #TulaniKristin

My sister sent me this postcard while I was waiting for my 4th daughter to be born. The midwife had given a date a month before my actual due date so there was an extra lot of waiting through the Mississippi summer of 1978 until she was finally born September 26.9-12-78

They had their hair bobbed awhile ago, but promised they wouldn’t cut it again until after the baby comes! You see them now, don’t you?? Hang in there!! Love – Pearlita

The story of Tulani’s birth – written shortly after she was born in Jackson, MS September 26, 3:36AM Tuesday (If you don’t want to read the details of a birth, stop right here.)

The midwives I used when my 3rd daughter was born had moved out of town. The two I found were not like the others. Neither had children of their own. They were scary about everything. They said the head was small and they hoped it wasn’t encephalic. To me! They wouldn’t believe that when I said conception probably occurred and placed the due date a month early, then said they didn’t want to do the delivery because I was overdue. They didn’t hook me up with a support doctor, so Jim called the doctor I had used as back up last time and she agreed to do it, although she fussed about the midwives not having a back-up doctor.

Woke up with contractions. Sat up to see if more were coming. They were. Woke up Jim, who timed a few – coming every 5 minutes. I was real glad. Labor was starting the day before the two week deadline ran out. Had dreaded dealing with that after fearing every abnormality possibly connected with pregnancy during this 9 1/2 months. Now, Jim called someone else to see if the kids could spend the day there since the other people worked. Then it was almost 10 o’clock so he suggested we call the doctor since the contractions were so quick. I was doing deep regular breathing which I did until transition, but blowing out rather harder than breathing in. I asked if he was sure we wanted to go in so soon since we probably had a 9 hour wait ahead of us. But finally I agreed. He called the doctor who was off that night and another lady doctor fills in for her. She said we better come on since fourth babies may come pretty quick.

I threw up once or twice as we were getting ready to leave. All loaded up and left. Dropped the kids down the road. Carrie Ann came out and said she hoped it came quickly so I wouldn’t still be waiting around in the morning. I said I hoped so too. But was mentally resigned to 9 hours of labor and didn’t expert to deliver until around 9AM.

Got back on highway. Had regular contractions all the way there. Pretty strong. Not looking forward to 9 more hours of labor but glad to be in labor. Threw up or gagged once or twice. Finally got to the hospital around 2AM or a bit before. Jim took me in and upstairs – a guard pushing the wheelchair. I was still breathing the same way, sometimes rubbing my stomach, had no back labor, during final 6 weeks of pregnancy had been told the baby was in posterior position and would cause a long labor by midwife.

On the delivery floor was wheeled into a labor room by one of the nurses on duty. There were 2, a white RN and a black LPN. I asked if the birthing suite was available and it was so we went there – a combination labor and living room where delivery can take place without being moved. I took off my clothes and peed and got into bed while Jim went to check me in. The white RN (while I was peeing) asked if I was having natural birth. I said yes and she (not trying to be unkind) made some comment like “ooohhhhh honey, that’s good, if you could stand it”. I told her I’d done it 3 times and I was sure I could. Glad it wasn’t my first. Continued this while continuing to have regular and strong contractions.

Got into bed and was shaved just a partial and checked. No enema and 5>6 cm’s dilated. I couldn’t’ believe I was that far along. Jim returned. The doctor came in. A little white lady, a bit older than I (I was 32), not 40 yet. She asked if we’d had any special plans we’d discussed with Dr. Barnes. We said just no drugs and keep the baby with us. She said you had to have a special nurse present to keep the baby.

She went back out. The RN kept making dumb comments, trying to be friendly. She said she’d be ready for delivery about 3AM. Ha! I thought. Told me to tell them if I felt like pushing. I felt like pushing a bit, but kept quiet, remembering last time and how I’d pushed mildly for hours before the real push. Then she must have checked me or the doctor did and said I could push when I felt like it. Contractions were almost continuous. So on one or two more pushes I had to push and did. The waters broke and I told them. The RN started saying “sit up, you can’t push laying down!’ I was in the middle of a push, and I was saying “just wait a minute, just wait”. So after that push everyone was rushing around getting ready for the birth. It was about 3AM. They had me sit on some little plastic seat to make it easier to catch the baby.

So, I started pushing, which was a relief. The rests between contractions were longer. I said now they’d probably stop. The doctor said rests were usually longer during 2nd stage. They started seeing head. I pushed harder and finally, actually 15 or 20 minutes I felt that big head coming through and down and made noise as I pushed. There was no pain through the cervix this time, like when Ayanna had her arm up, but the head against the perineum felt like I was going to pop. I was not relaxed. I saw that hair down there on the head, but the main feeling was yikes, I’m going to pop. The doctor said let the contractions deliver and don’t push, so after a years wait (not really) a contraction came, I panted and the head came out. I pushed and it all popped out. For some reason I didn’t look in the mirror while this was going on. But I immediately looked after she came out. And she was squirming around while the doctor suctioned her nose. Didn’t look like much mucus. Was no blueness to her. She gave a short cry. They cut her cord and I picked her up and she was a regular, whole baby, without even a club foot (smile).

Then Jim went to the nursery while they weighted her and examined her. He brought her back because her temperature was stable at 99 already. She nursed a bit then they took my blood pressure and said it was low so took the baby. Jim held her awhile. Then they pushed my uterus (ouch!) and some clots came out. Not firm enough so pushing and shot of pitocin, drip of something else. They didn’t hear about nursing firming up the uterus. Any way I went to sleep and didn’t bleed to death.

Kristin with baby Tulani — Holding baby Tulani several months later.

The Ruff Draft – July 30, 1991

August 6, 2011Newsletters#Ayanna, #James A. Williams, #publications, #ruff draft, #TulaniKristin

In 1991 my family began putting out a newsletter, The Ruff Draft. We had recently started homeschooling and the purpose of The Ruff Draft was to both give real writing opportunities to Ayanna, Tulani, James and Cabral, and to show the relatives they were learning something. Here are 3 pages from the July 30, 1991 edition. What I noticed while looking through it this morning was how similar the News Shorts on page 3 were to the News Shorts in the papers in the early 1900’s where I have found information of births, weddings and at home celebrations for my grandparents. We stopped publishing when the writers graduated and moved on to bigger things away from home.

Finding Eliza

Family history blog

Tag Archives: #Tulani

Losing Teeth

Y – A YEAR for Tulani – 1996

Tulani’s Year

Tulani’s Birth Story 1978

The Ruff Draft – July 30, 1991