The Tooth Fairy's First Visit

My 5 year old lost his first tooth yesterday. Supposedly he announced it with great enthusiasm to the whole school while everyone was standing quietly outside the building during a fire drill. It's such a cute little tooth! My older son and I held it up to our teeth, trying to compare it's size to the size of our own teeth, and trying to envision it sticking out of our own gums.

Well, of course the tooth fairy came to visit last night. Little son and I carefully wrapped up the tooth in a tissue and strategically placed it under his pillow, close to the side of his bed so the 'tooth fairy could reach it'. He was all a buzz. 'I wonder what the tooth fairy looks like? Is it a boy or a girl? It's probably a girl because fairies are girls, right? How does she know where we live? How does she carry around all that money?' On and on the questions flowed. However, he never questioned her authenticity, which is refreshing considering his cynical and jaded nature. And when it was bedtime, he went right to sleep. No stalling. That was a first.

Well, shortly after he fell asleep, the tooth fairy did visit, and carried out her duty flawlessly. Not a stir was caused. She adeptly slipped the $5.00 bill under his pillow while extracting the tissue bound tooth ( I know, $5.00 is pretty steep, but that's only for the first tooth, the rest are only $1.00).

After the tooth fairy watched the 11:00 local news, she turned off the TV and went to bed. Well, at 1:21am little son's anticipated discovery came to fruition. He found his $5.00 bill under his pillow and quickly ran into my room to announce his findings. 'Why are you awake right now? You should be asleep' I stupidly said, probably bursting his bubble. But being woken from a fairly sound slumber threw me off guard, and led to tactlessness. After I regained some consciousness I told him he could sleep in my bed (a huge rarity), and congratulated him on his winnings. Well, suffice to say neither of us got much sleep. My husband is out of town, so the bed wasn't too crowded, but with all the excitement sleep was difficult.

The roll of questions continued during this morning's walk to school. 'How did the tooth fair get into the house? Do you think she's big or little? So-and-so only got 2 dollars, how come she gave him 2 and me 5?', etc. His innocence and cuteness was just so adorable I just basked in it. But, of course, when we got to school, he said, 'Mom, let's not talk about my tooth any more. Don't say anything about it, OK?'. 'OK'. I said. But I am still reveling in his unusual, age appropriate behavior. I am so used to him acting like a misinterpreted teenager, that any sliver of 'little-kidness' I get, I relish. I guess that's part of the magic of the Tooth Fairy - she can bring out the little kid in anyone.