Last weekend I had a super-duper “mom fail”. I hadn’t even realized that my daughter’s tooth was that loose. She had been eating a rice crispy bar when suddenly something didn’t feel right. Next thing I know she is screaming from the bathroom for us to come there. She was so proud that she pulled her out tooth out (I was so relieved not to have to pull a tooth out).
Lately she has been writing the Tooth Fairy a sweet little note asking for her to deliver the cash, but to leave the tooth behind so she can keep it. This time my daughter wrote in her note that instead of cash she was hoping for a small treasure or toy. The Tooth Fairy only has a budget of $1 but I thought for sure I’d find something around the house to hid under her pillow. We were in the middle of the polar vortex and I wasn’t about to drive around in -30 degree weather to find a $1 treasure.
I waited for L to fall asleep then began looking through the stash of toys and games that we have hidden for birthday and Christmas presents. Unfortunately all of them were too “big” and would set an unrealistic standard for the Tooth Fairy to keep up with.
Naturally I got side-tracked and started putting some laundry away before falling asleep. When I went to wake L up the next morning the first thing she said was “I hope the Tooth Fairy came!!”. Oops. I had completely forgotten to put anything under her pillow.
Luckily, the weather was so bad out that her school was delayed 2 hours. I quickly went into a long explanation on how it was likely too cold for the Tooth Fairy to make all her delivers, or that perhaps the freezing rain was preventing her from flying to all of her stops last night. As L quickly checked under her pillow and saw nothing there but her note and tooth, she thought about it for a few seconds (felt like an eternity). Then she says “I think you’re right – it was probably too cold last night”.
I assured her that likely the Tooth Fairy was just running behind and would perhaps deliver her treasure that night instead. After L fell asleep that night I hid a small bottle of bubbles and $1 under her pillow. Typically it’s only $1, but the Tooth Fairy wanted to make-up for running a day behind.
Much to my surprise (and confusion) L seemed to completely forget about the Tooth Fairy’s neglect and went about her business the next few days. Finally on Thursday I asked her casually if she ever found any treasures under her pillow. It hit her immediately and she quickly ran off. I soon heard squeals and screams that the Tooth Fairy did come and left her some presents.
I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to recover from a goof like that. I almost just told her the truth, but she was so excited about the whole think I keep cool. I know she will only believe for a little while longer, but I hope she gets a good laugh out of the story on this particular tooth.
Passports & Playdates 