My daughter, B, lost a tooth this morning. She's almost 10 so this is pretty "old hat" for her. Especially since she lost her first tooth at 4 1/2 before her 6 year old brother lost his first tooth (although he worked double time to catch up and made a pretty good run at it). The tooth fairy hasn't been the most consistent around here...
My husband and I started dating when he was 19 and I was 21 1/2 (I think the 1/2 still matters at 21). When we met, my husband had never tried alcohol (or smoking or drugs, which remains to this day) but at about 28 he got interested in the romance of wines and started reading about them and was interested in trying wine. Incidentally at 21 1/2 I was no stranger to alcohol (and my experience went beyond those 6 months) but I really liked this guy and I felt no need to drink so I pretty much didn't drink that whole time, with the exception of a wedding toast or two. It wasn't a big deal to me. So my husband started experimenting with wine and I joined him. Well we just so happened to share a bottle of wine one night and went to bed giggly (and very relaxed) when the tooth fairy was supposed to visit our house. My daughter woke up in the morning clutching her forgotten tooth looking very forlorn and trying to figure out why the tooth fairy had forgotten her. I felt like the worst mother in the world! Joe was unfazed. Now I remember when I was little, loosing a tooth and not putting it under my pillow the first night and not telling my parents. I was testing the tooth fairy. I ended up putting it under my pillow about 3 days later and sure enough, the next morning, there was my money. So my mom set the bar pretty high and here I was too "drunk" to remember my role as tooth fairy! I ended up going into her room later and stuffing $1 under her pillow with a note saying that the tooth fairy couldn't find her tooth. She bought it!
Well since then, the tooth fairy has proven to be quite unreliable on numerous occasions (not all involving alcohol though so I try to ease my guilt by being universally unreliable). My oldest has tried to retrieve money directly from us in an attempt to collect what he rightfully earned. I knew it was bad when my youngest came to me a couple of months ago with a "forgotten" tooth and said "Mom, can I just have a $1?".
Today my daughter, who has a wild imagination, came to me after loosing a tooth at breakfast and said "Mom I need to have a talk with you. I am kind of bored with you 'pretending' (she actually used air quotes) to be the tooth fairy and I was kind of thinking I could just sell you my tooth." I laughed, she smiled, and when I was done laughing I had a counter offer. I would pay her for her tooth in exchange for permission to post this on Facebook. She countered back that she would accept the Facebook post but that the agreement must extend to all future teeth. The deal was done.
So I posted on Facebook and immediately got responses. My sister asked if they knew about Santa which reminded me of my failure at being Santa last year...
We hung the stockings the day after Thanksgiving and both B and G left "notes" for Santa in their stockings. They were in sealed envelopes so I couldn't open them early (as they would likely check them before Christmas) and B told me I couldn't look in there. So then it's Christmas Eve, a month later, and I am frantically stuffing stockings and arranging presents so that I can get some sleep. Totally forgot about the "notes" from the month before (OK there was probably some wine involved in this one, as it was Christmas Eve).
So the kids woke up on Christmas morning and tore into their stockings. Then B reminded G about the "notes", and dread filled me. They opened the envelopes, still hopeful (they were not discouraged by the still sealed envelopes, which only made it worse) only to discover that the questions they had asked Santa had not been answered. B's questions included "Do you know Mother Nature?" (she's been wanting some snow and is trying to get in good with Mother Nature, but still hasn't found an "in") "Do you believe in God?" She was disappointed not to have her pressing questions answered but was distracted by the gifts so it didn't get her down. Then sweet G opens his unanswered letter only to find that his single question was not answered either. His query was "Have I been a good boy? check yes or no". His lip started to quiver and his eyes got watery. I tried to salvage Christmas morning for him. "Obviously Santa thinks you have been a good boy or he wouldn't have come and brought you this awesome Lego set!" That logic seemed to hold water for him so he perked up a bit. I would like to think it was my little pep talk that made him feel better (since it was my oversight that caused him pain) but really it was probably the awesome Lego set and his own MP3 player that really pulled him through. Oh well, I guess I won't be getting any mother of the year awards but I am trying to give it a positive spin. I am setting the bar so low that my children will have no choice but to give their children a better experience! I do throw an awesome birthday party though....
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