The Tooth Fairy

Confession Time
I have a confession to make.  My 10 year old son still believes in the tooth fairy as well as all of said fairy's cohorts.  Whew!  I feel so much better.  Not really, though, and here's why:  He refuses to believe they aren't true.  Last year right before Christmas my daughter asked me if I was going to fess-up about Santa to him.  She reminded me that I told her when she was 8, and it was time that  he needed to know.  [sigh]  I had/have 2 problems.  Unlike with my daughter, no one had told my son anything, and he's also my "baby".  It's different with your "baby."  She and I agreed to tell him together, but not directly.  We were going to "feel" him out, so to speak, to try to see how it was going to go.   Well, it didn't go too well.  He just looked at us and said, "Of course there's a Santa."  [Well, duh, of course there's a "santa" ~ me and my husband.]  I asked him if he had heard anything at school or from his friends "about Santa," and he replied, "No, like what?"  My daughter and I looked at each other with our hearts in our eyes [of course, we rolled our eyes, too], and we shrugged our shoulders.  We just didn't have the heart to do it.  I'm not usually a softie, though, but this has been difficult.  I'm usually pretty cut and dry ~ a "this is the way it is, get used  to it" kind of mom, but this is really hard.  At the same time, I absolutely hate keeping up the charade, especially at Christmas.  It's expensive and a lot of work.

Well, I've drug my feet on this issue too long.  Last night my son lost another tooth, and all I could think was "Oh crap.  I don't have a dollar bill!"  I also was out of little-sized ziploc baggies.  So, he had to use a gallon-sized baggie for the tooth.  [Yes, I know it's wasteful, but...]  As far as I'm concerned, if you're old enough to pull your own tooth out, clean up after yourself in the bathroom, and locate a gallon-sized baggie to put your tooth in, then you're too old for the tooth fairy, right?  However, I was tired and didn't feel like having this discussion.  My daughter lent me a dollar bill, which she said I didn't have to pay back right away.  [Her generosity just takes my breath away.]  Then, I waited and waited and waited for him to fall asleep.

I'm pretty sure you can guess what happened.  I fell asleep before he did.  I woke up at 4 a.m. and remembered what I didn't do.  ["Oh crap."] My son had fallen asleep in my daughter's room because they had been watching a movie.  He was on the floor with 2 blankets and 4 pillows.  [Big sigh & another "Oh crap."]  So I began the search for the BIG baggie with the little tooth in it.  No luck.  I checked everywhere very carefully.  No stupid tooth.  I went to his room and checked under the pillows on his bed.  No stupid tooth.  I went back to my daughter's room, and performed another search.  No stupid tooth. ["Oh crap."]

It was now 4:30 a.m., and my son was beginning to stir.  Actually, more than stir.  He flipped over on his side, and mumbled and grunted a little bit, and that was the exact moment that I had this wonderfully brilliant idea. [Uh-oh.]  If I woke him up quickly like he was having a bad dream & told him maybe he should go to the bathroom, then I could really look under all those pillows and blankets for that stupid tooth.  Well, it worked like a charm.  When I woke him up and told him he must have been having a bad dream.  He replied, "Really?  I didn't know."  [I am so evil.]  So I suggested he go to the bathroom, and he went.  As I was frantically methodically searching  for his stupid tooth, my daughter began to stir as well.  She must have overheard us, because she remarked, "Wow.  I didn't hear anything.  He was really having a bad dream?"  Of course, she had her eyes closed, so she couldn't see what I was doing.  With one hand I was "feeling the pillows" thinking that maybe he was "testing" the tooth fairy, and with the other hand I was trying to signal to her to be quiet and help.  Did I forget to mention that this is 4:30 am and that other than the light from the bathroom, it's quite dark?  Well, she finally opens her eyes and realizes what I'm doing, and says, "Ooooohhhh."  I heard him coming back to the room.  Still no stupid tooth.  ["Oh crap."]  He lays back down, and as he's pulling the blankets up, he says "I can't believe I was having a bad dream.  I don't even remember it." [Guilty sigh.]  I walked out of the room with the dollar bill instead of the stupid tooth.  The kids fell back asleep, but I didn't.

Later when he woke up, I asked him if the tooth fairy had come [because dang it, I wanted to know where that stupid tooth was].  You want to know what his reply was?  "No.  I forgot to put it under my pillow last night.  It's on top of my bookcase in my room."  [Stupid sigh.]  I must tell him the truth...someday.  Either that, or he knows and he's playing me for all it's worth.