The Tooth Fairy Must Have Been ... On Vacation...

(... yeah, that's it! ... vacation! ... yeah, that's the ticket!)


My little guy lost a tooth. He had three loose teeth for a few weeks, and finally one fell out. (One down, two to go!)

He was so excited! As he placed the tooth under his pillow last night, he said, "Please, tooth fairy, will you bring me five pennies?!"

I was excited, too, thinking, "Wow, this is so much less expensive than when his sister used to ask for five dollars."

As it turns out, he wanted coins so he can use them to buy jelly beans from his dad's gumball / candy machine. Yes, it takes pennies. (My husband wishes the kids still thought it would only take quarters....)

* * *

And then he woke me up this morning, crying because his tooth was still under his pillow ... with no pennies, no dollars, nothing at all from the tooth fairy....

He was so crushed, poor guy. He thought maybe the tooth fairy didn't like him, or she forgot him, or his tooth was too small or otherwise just wasn't worthy....

* * *

And in my foggy-brained, just-woke-up-stupor, all I could think as I hugged him, was:

(Oh, my.)

(Major oops.)

(I am the worst tooth fairy ever! I couldn't even manage 5 pennies!!)

And then, a flash of brilliance! The perfect excuse (!) --

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure it's nothing personal. She's probably just on vacation. I bet she'll be back soon, and we can try again."

He asked, "The TOOTH FAIRY goes on VACATION?!?"

I said, "Sure, sweetie, *everyone* needs a break now and then, right?"

He looked at me skeptically, and then I said I would email her and ask when she'll be back so we can try again with the tooth.

He asked, "The TOOTH FAIRY has EMAIL?"

I said, "Sure, sweetie, *everyone* has email, don't they?"

He looked even more skeptical. I knew I couldn't just say the tooth fairy emailed me back; he'd never believe that.

So later I doctored an email to make it look like the tooth fairy emailed me back and said she just got back from visiting her cousins, and we should try again tonight. I printed it, and we read the email together.

When we finished, he asked, "The TOOTH FAIRY has COUSINS?"

I said, "Yeah, I didn't know that, either! And there I was thinking she was just hanging out in Hawaii or something."

He laughed and said, "Yeah, me too!"

* * *

Another parenting crisis averted.

* * *

The pressure's on now, though. If I forget again, after the tooth fairy promised to be back, it's all over!