Guess Who Didn't Show...

Thus far, Ethan has lost five of his baby teeth. After the first three, the tooth fairy showed up, deposited a dollar bill, and left a happy child in her wake. That's how I imagine her process works on a good night,c anyway.

With tooth number four, there was a slight hiccup. By this I mean that Ethan's daddy was home. One would think assistance from a father would help the tooth fairy remember the task at hand, but no, it didn't. That fairy stayed up late talking to the man of the house and forgot why she was even at our house in the first place. Shame on her!

The next morning Ethan flew into my room in quite a tizzy exclaiming, "The tooth fairy didn't leave me any money!" Yikes! Not what parents want to hear. Ronnie quickly grabbed a spare bill and went to the kids' room to help "find" what the tooth fairy had actually left. Ethan bought it. Whew! Surely that tooth fairy had learned her lesson!

Last night, Ethan told me that his other top front tooth was loose. And indeed it was. I instructed him to wiggle it really good and saw that it was time to be removed. I offered to yank it out, but he declined, saying that he could do it himself. Alrighty. Sure enough, he got brave and pulled hard enough only to look down at his cloth to see no tooth. It was quite funny to watch. With his mouth hanging open, trying to keep his pearly whites visible and talk at the same time, he mumbled, "Is it still there?" "Yes, sweetie, it's still there. You're going to have to really pull on it hard to get it all the way out." And that he did! He pulled and there was his little tooth on the cloth! "Take a picture, Mama!" (It looked gross, so I'm not sharing.)

Off to bed went my happy snaggle-toothed little boy, anxiously awaiting his crisp dollar bill at wake up.

Only the money wasn't there when he woke up. Yup. That tooth fairy done messed up again! Apparently she was super tired and totally forgot the previous evening's events and didn't even think about delivering a reward for Ethan's bravery. At least that's what I heard. Someone really should fire this chick and get a more reliable fairy for these kids.

I was feeding Melia when Ethan comes charging at me with his Kleenex-bound tooth, declaring in an angry voice, "She didn't even come! My tooth is still here and there's NO money!" Uh oh. I explained that she had probably been, but why would she really want your tooth anyway, and told him to get dressed while I went to see if I could find his money. For a second I saw a look on his face telling me that he has the worst tooth fairy in the world. I agree, sadly.

I quickly grabbed a dollar and headed to his room, pretending to dig under his pillow and yelled out to him, "I found it! I don't know why you didn't see it! It's right here! Come see for yourself!"

Did he buy it? I don't know. Did he get his dollar? Yes. Was he happy? Yes, he was. Is the tooth fairy in trouble? Yes, I think she is. Maybe she'll redeem herself next time.