Losing Your First Tooth - The Tooth Fairy's Visit

Eli wrapped up May with a bang - a great birthday party and his first visit from the tooth fairy after losing his first tooth.

My favorite was when he tried to negotiate with us by saying, Mom just tell the tooth fairy to bring me a lego because it takes so long to go to the store.  You never want to go.

I immediately let him know that I"m not in charge of the tooth fairy.  Plus we were lucky that his three cousins from Portland were staying with us and at eight, Ellie has plenty of tooth fairy experience.

Eli's birthday dinner included corn on the cob which did the trick - so that when he woke up the next  morning he was proudly displaying this tooth that he said he found in this mouth.  The day was so busy with four kids, six adults that night for dinner and an impressive 1.5 hour sword fight that we almost forgot about the whole tooth fairy thing, but Ellie remembered.

So right before bed she helped Eli write his letter on an envelope:

1. What is your name?
2. Are you a boy or girl?
3. Do you have a pet?

Eli included a couple pictures.  We slipped this with the special tooth fairy box that Auntie Lori (the Pirate one) had given Eli when he was two (and I spend a long time looking for).

Then mom and dad consulted with Ellie's parents to find out the going rate for the first tooth - yikes $5.  OK, let me age myself, I think I got a quarter for the first one and some miscellaneous change for a couple others.  I, of course, had no money and couldn't get any because I had just discovered that my new debit card had a different authorization code - and it was Sunday of a holiday weekend.  So I did what any smart mom does...I put dad in charge and hopped into bed.

After accomplishig the task, tooth fairy, aka Tim, came proudly into the room.  Her name is Zofia.  She is a girl.  She loves sea stars.

I smiled with delight and put my hand out.  OK, give me the tooth.

Tim looked surprised.  What do you mean? 

Give me the tooth I responded.

Uh...I put it in the toilet so he wouldn't find it.

Did you flush?

No, but I"m not putting my hand in the toilet.

We HAVE to save the first tooth.  It's a tradition so I can tape it in his baby book.

But then he'll see it.

Duh, I won't put it in there until he already knows, so get me the tooth.

A bit of wrestling back and forth and even stating that he never looks at his baby teeth to which I replied I remember you being quite excited when your sister gave you that envelope...my loving husband grugingly goes back upstairs to feel around the toilet. 

He came back down in a few minutes.

I washed it off.

Thanks. I stashed it in the drawer and that was the end of that.

Truthfully I'm surprised he just didn't say he flushed it.  Perhaps it was the look of disbelief on my face that it WAS in the TOILET in the first place - or perhaps he did really remember that faint bit of "how sweet" when he was handed a couple baby teeth forty years later.

And this is why I love him - toilet diving even when he doesn't want to and creating a great story for Eli.

PS.  Eli's new favorite activity is to look in the mirror and make spit bubble come out of the hole.  Yep, he's quite pre-occupied with it.