Jaden lost his second tooth just before Christmas and I almost blew the Tooth Fairy cover!!!  The night he lost his tooth, he didn’t want to put it under his pillow because he wanted to bring it to school in hopes of getting a coveted “tooth necklace.”  Apparently, if you lose a tooth at school you get this plastic necklace to put your tooth in and wear for the day.  Well, I guess Jaden really wanted one.  I explained to him that he had a good chance of losing his tooth if he brought it to school, but he assured me he would be careful.  I figured if all else failed, it would be a learning experience.

The next day, after putting Jaden to bed, he wanted me to lay with him for a bit.  I decided to stall a bit and clean out his backpack before Christmas break.  I threw out old tissues, paper scraps and empty snack baggies.  When I laid down with him, he remembered he needed to put his tooth under his pillow!  It was at that moment I remembered I had put his tooth in a ziploc baggie — the same kind of “empty snack baggies” I had just thrown out.  Crap – I threw his tooth out!  I told Jaden I’d get his tooth for him.  I quickly checked the kitchen garbage to see if it was laying on top.  No such luck.  The tooth had been eaten by nasty garbage and food scraps from dinner.

Thinking quick on my feet, I put a popcorn kernel in a new ziploc (just in case he reached his hand under his pillow to feel for the tooth).  Jaden fell fast asleep not knowing any different.

Here is where I really messed up …. I FORGOT TO PUT THE DOLLAR UNDER HIS PILLOW!!!  I went to bed totally forgetting about the whole thing.  In fact, I didn’t remember about it until I was at church the following morning and a friend’s daughter proudly showed me that she had lost tooth.  Crap.  Could I be lucky enough that Jaden forgot to check for the dollar too?  Then I could swap the popcorn kernel for the green bill without him ever knowing a difference.

No such luck.  Again.  I secretly asked Doug if Jaden had noticed the missing dollar bill.

Doug told me that he had thought enough to move the Elf on the Shelf before Jaden noticed.  He place him flying on Jaden’s bedroom ceiling fan.  When Jaden found the popcorn kernel in a ziploc baggie, he was totally confused.  BUT … thank goodness for a child’s imagination! … he blamed Snowball-Owen (our Elf on a Shelf) for swapping out his tooth for a kernel.  The naughty Elf stole his tooth … that was why the tooth fairy hadn’t come.

Phew did I get lucky or what?!?!

That night Jaden and I wrote the Tooth Fairy a note and placed it under his pillow.

I was SURE to remember to swap out the note for the $1 that time and even wrote him a note back … in glittery ink too.  I had to go all out … he can’t stop believing at 6!  There is so much magic still left!

Jaden was pumped that he got a special note.  He is even more convinced that Snowball-Owen is a mischievous Elf … all is right in the world again!  Phew!  If only that lazy Tooth Fairy would get her own teeth!  Us parents wouldn’t have so much pressure of doing it ourselves 🙂

Love, Mel