My grandson lost his first front tooth today in a slice of pizza. Memories of loose teeth spurred a quarrel between my sister Holly and I as to who was the worst tooth fairy.
My second child had woke up to find his lost tooth still under the pillow and no cash. “The tooth fairy didn’t leave me anything,” he whined, a little piece of enamel lying in his open hand. “My tooth was still under my pillow.”
Quick on my feet, I explained, “You know how you fall asleep in different places? Like the trampoline or in a tent you make in the living room.” As I spoke, I wandered the room looking for my purse, reached into my coin stash, and inconspicuously dropped a few quarters in his shoes left in the living room. “The tooth fairy wasn’t sure you’d be in bed, but she knew you’d put on your shoes the next morning. Maybe she left something there.”
Hot Wheelz bought into my tooth fairy dust. He found the shiny coins in his shoes and his tears evaporated into smiles. His older sister wasn’t so sure. “How come she didn’t take the tooth?” the GAP asked, too inquisitive for her brother’s good. I frantically swiped my bladed hand across my throat in a motion to stop her banter.
“That’s nothing,” my sister Holly interjected. “In the dark I accidentally slipped a twenty dollar bill under my five-year-old’s pillow. In the morning when I saw him waving it around, I grabbed it from him and swapped it with a dollar bill.
“No wonder,” the now-grown recipient of the uneven exchange said as he listened to this tale, “I never put much credibility into this tooth fairy business.”
Let’s hope for the sake of my grandson, the Bug, that he lives in a higher paid tooth fairy district and gets the real deal instead of a flaky substitute.
Epilogue: The next evening I had a phone message in a cute little voice – “two quarters and a new book.” Wow, who knew he’d even get a literate tooth fairy?
Related posts:
- Family vacation Chevy Chase style
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- The younger generation
- Aged to perfection
Print This Post
So smart – I forgot to play tooth fairy once and she woke up and was nearly hysterical. I like your story better than mine – I ended up paying double the next night because the tooth fairy was under the weather.
Cute! Thanks for sharing Penny : )
My kids are only four and can’t wait to cash in on their teeth- they keep checking to see if anything is loose!
Hi Penny, The last tooth fairy event at my house went like this:
Me: “I’m tired, can you put this under her pillow when she falls asleep?”
Oldest Daughter: “Sure’”
The Next Morning
“Daddy, the tooth fairy didn’t come!”
“Oh, sweetie, maybe the fairy will come tonight.”
Later
Oldest Daughter: “Um, I forgot.”
“Were you up when she fell asleep?”
“Yeah, it was a few minutes after you went to bed.”
Lesson: Never delegate these important tasks to teenagers while they are on the phone.
Ray