Toothless

One day Noah came home from Kindergarten and said, "Mom, when am I going to lose a tooth?" He was desperate to lose a tooth since his kindergarten teacher made a big deal when a child lost a tooth. Two years later, at seven and a half, Noah didn't even have a loose tooth. He continued to ask me, "Mom, when am I going to lose a tooth?" He was starting to get frustrated when many of his younger friends were losing their teeth.

I reassured him that his time would come, but I did think it was kind of strange that he still hadn't. Finally, about a week ago, I was flossing his teeth and one felt a little loose. HOORAY! Noah was so thrilled. It was fun to watch him wiggle it with his hand and then as it got looser, wiggle it with his tongue.

Thursday night, he spent the night at his cousins' house and when I went to pick him up, he showed me his toothless smile. It had fallen out the night before. He proudly showed me the ziploc bag containing his tiny tooth. My brother and sis-in-law and I were talking about the Tooth Fairy. I was reassuring them that Noah didn't believe in the Tooth Fairy since he knew the truth about Santa Claus. To illustrate my point, I said, "Noah, who is the Tooth Fairy?"

I expected him to say, "You." But instead he looked at me strangely and said, "The Tooth Fairy is the Tooth Fairy."

I could have sworn we had this conversation a few years ago, but apparently he REALLY wants to believe. So, who am I to spoil it for him?

That night we had to convince him that we had "emailed" the Tooth Fairy and told her that we were going to leave the tooth in the bathroom instead of under the pillow. I told Noah that Tooth Fairies can't come into rooms with babies-because they might wake them up. Now that all the kids are sleeping in the same room, I will do anything to avoid waking baby Gabe up.

Noah finally relented, and after the kids were in bed, Brad and I discussed how much the Tooth Fairy would bestow. My idea of "perfect" was four shiny quarters, but Brad thought it would be more fun to get the four shiny quarters and a bunch of other change; pennies, nickels, dimes. It was a very serious talk since we knew we would be setting a precedent. Brad seemed so excited, so we went with his idea.

In the morning, I woke up to Noah at the foot of our bed, happily counting his change. What fun memories that brought back. I have to admit, it's fun being the Tooth Fairy.