mama says om theme: whimsy

His first tooth fell out this week during Sunday School and he smugly presented it to us in a zip-lock baggie when we picked him up. He was beaming with pride and I think a little relieved to be "keeping up" with his friends who have already started losing theirs.

After carrying it around all day and showing it to anyone who would look, he later forgot about it. I stumbled upon the bag on his bedroom floor. An empty bag. O no.

I felt all over the carpet frantically but had no luck. I informed my husband of the missing tooth and he said no problem, we'd make another. He searched the kitchen and began carving a replacement from a white plastic bottle top. But I spotted a dried up piece of cream cheese, not too white, not too big, just right. We put it in the bag and hoped he wouldn't crumble it when placing it under his pillow later that night. That would be bad.

It went as planned and after I was certain he was asleep I tip-toed in, retrieved the cream cheese nugget and replaced it with some shiny quarters and dimes. The finishing touch was some gold dust my mom had handed down to me from her tooth-fairy days. I still remember how delighted I was to find the whimsical sprinkling of fairy dust under my pillow. It was more thrilling than finding the actual money. I used to get pieces of scotch tape and lift samples gently off the covers to save in my jewelry box.

Around three in the morning I was up for some water and stopped by his room to cover him up since he always kicks the covers off. He was half awake when I came in and said, "Guess what? The tooth fairy has been here!" And he drifted off again.

In the morning he was up at the crack of dawn to show us his treasure and I couldn't help but notice that he said nothing of the gold dust. I went into his room and saw that it was under his pillow but his cotton sheets had absorbed most of it and it didn't appear shiny. Just a brownish smear. I touched it with my finger and saw a shimmer. "Come here!" I said and showed him the fairy dust. His little brother touched it and tasted it, of course. And then began licking it off the bed. We panicked, not knowing what 30 year-old metallic dust might actually consist of, and shooed him out of the room. His elder toothless brother seemed a little detached and unimpressed. And I found out why today. He told me he thought he must have accidentally smooshed her to have left a smudge on his bed like that. He was taking personal responsibility for killing the tooth fairy.

After explaining to him that she was fine and the dust was just from her wings as she was delivering the money in exchange for his tooth, I wondered how it had become so complicated. I have friends who don't do the tooth fairy thing. They feel it is dishonest. And now I wonder if little white lies are worth it to try to spin some childhood magic. You just never know where they can lead...


for other mamas on "whimsy" check out mama says om