When the Magic Ends

Nathanael lost his second tooth a week or so ago. He was pretty excited to put it under his pillow. This tooth fairy was feeling pretty good about remembering to bring him some cash since I have been known to forget. . . and for more than one night in a row. It was 9:30 pm and I was getting ready for bed. I checked all the kids and all were looking angelic, enjoying their respective blissful dreamlands. I grabbed the tooth, put money in the bag in exchange for the tooth and took it back to the boys' room, change jingling in the bag. After placing it carefully under Nathanael's pillow I stood up and was suddenly eye to eye with Ethan. His eyes were not sleepy. They were bugging out of his head. It seems he was not fast asleep afterall.

"I knew it was you!" he said.

I was speechless. At 10 he seems pretty old to still believe in these unexplainable events. A tooth disappearing but replaced by money. It seems obvious that an adult is behind this doesn't it? But the strong faith of a child can be powerful. Maybe it's not the best thing to mess with that power, but I prefer not to think of that since my kids have had many a magical morning as a result of it.

I'm glad I was there to witness the moment he gained his knowledge. We talked just a little bit about the tooth fairy. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "So then Santa. . ." I just smiled and then said, "Isn't it fun to be in on the secret?" I could see the ambivalence in his eyes. Like the moment you understand how the trick is done and suddenly the trick is not so cool anymore. Even though you really wanted to know how it's done, when you find out it's so anti climatic. This magical person (and all these childhood made up people, though Santa is clearly the biggest for us) he had hoped was real was just sent up in flames.

But at the same time he gets to be in on a fun secret. That could be fun couldn't it? We talked some more about how people had tried to tell him that Santa isn't real but he had refused to believe. He was a little embarrassed. In the end he did more smiling than frowning and I am glad it happened the way it did.

Today Kate lost a tooth. She left it in a baggie on the kitchen counter. Ethan brought it in while she was saying her prayers. When she was done he said, "The tooth fairy can't bring you money if your tooth isn't under your pillow." I noticed the smile he was trying to hold back and I can see he's really going to enjoy being in on the secret.

Finally!

Kate lost her third tooth this week. It has been quite an ordeal. She started telling us about it's "looseness" when it was questionable as to whether it was really loose or not. It's seriously been at least two months, probably more. She has played with it so much that she would even talk while messing with it with her tongue and that would make her talk weird. In the final stages she was showing me the many possible positions it could sit in. I kept telling her to just pull it out. She couldn't do it. She gets this from me. I never could pull my teeth out either. She told Jason if it wasn't out by Friday she wanted him to pull it for her. I am certain she would have renigged. But it never came to that because it came out Wednesday morning while she was eating toast.


She was so thrilled to put the tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy. I was very busy Wednesday night and I crashed into bed late without another thought to the tooth. At 5:50 am my alarm went off and I remembered the tooth. I jumped out of bed, immediately wide awake. I quickly snatched up some round cha-ching and went to check on Kate. She was wide awake in her bed. My hand closed over those coins faster than fast. I was surprised to find her awake. Nearly every day we seriously DRAG her out of bed kicking and screaming at 6:30. I asked how she felt this morning. Good she said. I turned to leave the room and then asked her to check on Elijah so I could check on the broken sprinkler. (During the retell to Jason, he was totally mocking me at this point). I was quickly weaving a tangled web. . . As soon as she went into my room I hurried back to her room to check for the tooth. It was all alone and out of it's bag under her pillow. I had no pockets but luckily I was wearing socks because they doubled as a pocket and I made a quick exchange, just in time to hear her coming back into her room. This all happened really fast and I couldn't figure out why she wasn't with Elijah. It turns out he wasn't awake and she, being the wonderful obedient child that she can be, didn't wake him. She quickly returned to report what she had found. I was startled and asked if she had seen my shoes. "No," she said. I randomly commented that maybe I left them in the boys' room. Under her watchful eye I found no shoes in there either. Funny how I then found them in my closet. I stepped out the front door to check the broken sprinkler. It was freezing and I was in a t shirt and pajama pants. Burr. All the time I was wondering if Kate was buying this ridiculous blunder of mine. Sprinklers are totally Jason's job, even if he isn't in town! She didn't seem to notice. When I came in she wanted to help with Elijah. I asked if the tooth fairy came. She said, "No, I woke up early to check and she didn't come so I took my tooth out of the bag and left it under my pillow without the bag." I snatched this opportunity. "Really? When I was in the hall just now I heard a noise in there and I thought maybe Ethan or Nathanael were in your room but they were both still in bed." Her eyes sparkled and she ran/skipped to her room. She came back with some jingle jangle clinking in her hand and huge smile on her face. "It was her Mom! You heard her!" "Wow," I said and thought to myself, how did I get away with that?


So here's the question of the day. . . Am I a terrible person for perpetuating this falsehood?