Tooth Fairy Drama

I made some major mom-mistakes in the last 24 hours. Actually one mistake was very recent and one occurred long ago, but both have been brought to my attention in the last 12 hours so I am very sensitive to my faults right now.

Yesterday John lost one of his two upper front teeth. Finally! This tooth had been wiggly for over a month and was hanging on by a dear thread. This tooth was so loose that the outer enamel actually turned a mild shade of blue/brown in the past few days, presumably from the dead nerve fibers that had severed between the gums and the tooth.

I have no idea if that last sentence above is true or not (the part about the nerve fibers being dead causing the colors), but the slightly blue/brown color was not appealing at all and I refuse to accept John's claim that the color was due to a cavity inside the tooth. John passed a dentist's check-up with flying colors about a month ago, so I don't think it was a cavity.

Anyway, John eagerly left his tooth next to his bed last night and when I tucked him in and turned out the light I mentally made a note, "come back in about an hour and half and play tooth fairy".

This is where the mom-mistake part comes in. I am sure you can guess. I completely forgot to play tooth fairy last night. This was my first time missing this fun opportunity in about 10 teeth's time.

I left John's room and immediately became involved in dealing with work-related issues that were causing me stress, and then gave up and retired to bed after about an hour of that. The thought to go back in to John's room and deliver the tooth fairy's reward never crossed my mind once after I closed the door.

So of course I felt like such a bad momma this morning when John declared, "mom, would you believe this? The tooth fairy never even came to my room last night!" immediately upon this morning's wake-up call. I tried to save face and state that perhaps the tooth fairy was too overwhelmed to visit every kid that lost a tooth on Wednesday that very night, and that maybe he should just leave it by his bed another night to see if she would come again.

John didn't seem to mind too much that his reward wasn't there, which was somewhat comforting to me. Though he did check for the $$ immediately upon coming home from school today, and the lack of tooth fairy reward was mentioned again during dinner. I swear I am getting up from this computer in about five minutes to deliver the reward. No way I am forgetting tonight!

So what is the second mom-mistake, you may wonder? Well, after talking about the lack of tooth fairy reward in the car this afternoon on the way home from school, once we arrived home Amelia immediately asked if she could please talk with me privately in the guest room, away from John. I obviously said sure, and then heard the following.

"Mom, remember when I lost that last tooth, the one on the top? Well, I was trying to fall asleep that night and I woke up when you walked down the hall and came into my room. I mean, I heard you coming and that is what woke me up, and I was sleepy but I know that you were the one to put the money in my pillow late in the night. So what I am trying to tell you is that I know you left me the money. I know that you are the tooth fairy. And that is OK, I just didn't want for John to hear this."

Such a mixture of sting and pride as Amelia proudly declared these words to me! I mean, on one hand, Amelia looked so proud that she could just tell me in a normal conversation that she was all grown up and didn't believe in the tooth fairy anymore, but that she was glad that she did believe at some point. I told her first that I was sorry for being loud in her room that evening, and then I asked her if she understood why parents play pretend with the tooth fairy idea, stating that it was to be exciting for young children and really magical and fun. Amelia said that yes she understood, and then she gave me a hug and said something like, "don't worry, mom, I understand and I think it's great". Before we left the room we both promised to keep up the gig for John, which Amelia was immediately on board with.

I kind-of felt a little sad that Amelia doesn't believe anymore, but I know that this was probably overdue and just a matter of time. She probably doesn't believe in Santa either, but is just playing along so as no to spoil the fun for the rest of the family. The mom-mistake is not in Amelia knowing the truth, but was in my lack of being discreet in my tooth fairy role so that she would believe for a longer time.

Now...off to deliver the tooth fairy's reward (five dollars!) and to dispose of the ugly brown/blue tooth for good.