Haddie lost her first tooth on Labor Day.I'll admit it: my initial thought was not about this fun milestone but rather, I was horrified to think her teeth were rotting out.
After recommitting myself to do a better job at brushing, I turned to more important matters: what to do about the Tooth Fairy.
I was a believer. Jamie was not. From the get-go, his parents told him the Tooth Fairy wasn't real.
I'm sure they also boiled the Easter Bunny just like on Fatal Attraction and arrested jolly old men wearing a red suit for trespassing.
I'm in the camp where I think it's fun to play along with these traditions. So much of my childhood magic centered around believing. Of course, it can get taken too far but pimping up a fairy that appears in the night to leave you money?
Sign me up.
Jamie agreed to play along with everything. We had a problem, though: there was no physical evidence of the missing tooth because she likely swallowed it. I posted a query to my Facebook friends about what to do and their responses were very helpful.
Before bedtime, I sat down with Hadley and we wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining our situation. One of my FB friends suggested we also leave the Tooth Fairy a glass of water so she could sprinkle her magic fairy dust that was the same color as her dress.
I loved the idea.
We put Haddie to bed and I started scrounging around for some money. I firmly believe less is more when it comes to setting expectations so I did not want to leave more than $1. Problem is I only had a $10 bill and lots of change. I knew Haddie would deem the tooth fairy a cheapskate if I went the latter route so I went door-to-door begging for a dollar bill.
Funny thing is, none of my neighbors seemed too surprised to see me doing this.
Once Haddie was asleep, I slipped into her room, left a note from the tooth fairy and $1. As for the fairy dust, I had a stroke of brilliance. She is absolutely obsessed with the color yellow and I thought she would be THRILLED to think the tooth fairy wore a dress that very color.
The only thing I hadn't anticipated is that it would look like the tooth fairy left her very own urine sample.
When Haddie found it in the morning, she naively sniffed it and said, "Yeah, it smells like water."
Just don't be surprised if you hear of any news reports about the Tooth Fairy being arrested for lewd conduct.
Do you let your children believe in the Tooth Fairy? If so, how much do you leave for each tooth?
P.S. Mile High Mamas, be sure to checkout my synopsis of the fantastic party I threw with Mom It Forward last week. It's not every day your party-goers jump in the pool fully clothed!
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13 Comments:
We have the tooth fairy bring $1 too. I'm not willing to do more than that. We left quarters for my daughter last time (which we wont do again) but we left four and she only found two. Oh, well.
$1 is fair. The yellow water cracked me up , you are such a fun mom. I love this post!
We skip the middle man now, just give my youngest son the money. He goes into the bathroom, yanks out his loose tooth, and says," can I have my dollar now? " I could never do that!
Rosey
Rofl, yellow water.. too hilarious.
I just did a dollar for the second tooth. The first one was swallowed and I had been caught off guard so had not laid the foundation for the Tooth Fairy. When I told Evan about it at first he was like "no way" and gave me a look like I was some insane lady.
What I want to know is how you sneak in with out waking up the kid. I am horrid at that.
That's hilarious!
My parents were like Jamie's, so this is new territory for me. We didn't have the Easter Bunny, but we did have visits from Santa.
If my hubby's family did the Tooth Fairy gig, I'll have to implement your water in a glass routine. Note to self, the tooth fairy should wear BLUE ...or be more hydrated. :)
This is hilarious! I totally get into all of the fun, traditional fictional characters from my childhood. I remember being so devastated when I learned they weren't real. My daughter is in 2nd grade so I am cherishing every moment that she still believes...
The story reminded me of my cousin. Her son lost a tooth after being tucked in bed for the night. He stuck it under his pillow & was sad in the morning when the tooth was still there. They wrote a note to the toothfairy explaining the situation. The next night, he placed the tooth & note under his pillow. As she was falling asleep, she realized she hadn't played toothfairy. Jumped up, ran to her purse, grabbed five $1's and made the exchange. In the morning, her son came out shouting, "MOM! The toothfairy left me $24!!" One of the $1s was a $20. Moral: Don't be a toothfairy in the dark.
I have to confess that my parents did the whole tooth fairy thing and I loved it. I remember being about five and I crawled into bed w/my mother after my dad left for work. I had lost a tooth the night before and placed it in a glass of water in the kitchen. I was talking to my mother in bed about my tooth and she looked worried, as I remember. She got up and went to the kitchen to do something (tooth fairy time) and hollered that I needed to come quick. She said she say the tooth fairy out the front picture window and she was going over the mountains and was a shimmery beautiful light. I was so excited and ran out to look. To this day, I remember thinking I saw that tooth fairy. I think I got about $1 in change. It all spends the same. I gave my son $4 for his first lost tooth. Every one after that he got $2, except for when he went to the dentist for a "cleaning" and ended up having four teeth pulled. He got a $20 bill. The yellow water made me laugh pretty hard. I love it. Reminds me of putting glitter in the snow w/oats to make reindeer food for the kiddos. Thanks for the laughter.
Renee'
Yeah...that water does look kind of suspicious...
I am with you...I want my kids to be believers as long as I can. I only leave one dollar, though...I think if I left any less my kids would know it was me due to my cheapskate tendencies.
Nice Amber, yellow water is always the perfect touch.
Okay, most people who know me know my Tooth Fairy come from me SUCKING at dragging my butt across the floor in a battle crawl and digging under the pillow of my child.
I'm clumsy... the comedy of errors with 7 kids is ENORMOUS!!
So.... we take the tooth, wrap it in a pretty bit of cloth and hang it on a tree in the front yard.
The next morning, the tooth fairy leaves a toy, IN the tree for the child to find.
Child gets toy, Tooth fairy is NOT broken by stepping on a sharp and jagged fire truck at midnight and I don't get caught in my skivvies!
I'm a firm believer in the tooth fairy. For a few years I left a loonie and then started leaving toonies.
Quite often I didn't get in under the pillow in time, so she would bring it the next night. Because the older kids had experienced this same problem they assured the younger one it was normal and OKAY.
you are such a good tooth fai... er, i mean, mommy =)
That water is hilarious!!! We leave $1 too. The first 2 teeth brought nice crisp $1 bills. The next 2 each brought 4 quarters... she thought that was better even though she knew it was the same amount... I asked if we should instruct the tooth fairy to leave 5 dimes next time. She wasn't a fan.
My kids are a bit young, but it is nice to have things to think about for the future!
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