Okay, let me say first that I absolutely abhor loose teeth. I can withstand my kid vomiting, bleeding and all manner of child grossness – but losing a tooth, nope, no thank you. My daughter on the other hand is absolutely thrilled that she has FINALLY entered Tooth Fairy Season. She has been waiting for two years to lose a tooth and discover something magical under her pillow.
Well, it finally happened. About a month ago, her two lower front teeth finally came out. By some small act of mercy, they fell out at school. I escaped having to deal with the lost tooth situation. Now, to be honest, it isn’t the tooth that grosses me out. It’s the wiggling. The way kids wiggle a tooth that is ready to exit with their little tongue and open wide to show you all the glory. I literally can feel the ick in my body. I don’t know why, but it brings me back to when I had a loose tooth and I hated that feeling deeply. My body cannot forget it and when I see the little wiggle, well my face scrunches and twitches just enough to show my extreme aversion.
The Night the Tooth Fairy Almost Lost Her Job
My dislike of wiggly teeth is not really the point of this story, however. Instead, it is about the night one night when the Tooth Fairy failed miserably and almost lost her job. The first night that my daughter was able to use her special “Tooth Fairy Pillow” to store her lost tooth was a night of great excitement in our house. After putting her to sleep, the Tooth Fairy took her little baby tooth and replaced it with three dollars and a special Tooth Fairy coin. Pleased with herself that she was a stealth retriever of the tooth, the little fairy tucked the blanket around my daughter and flew away.
When I woke up at 1am and walked out of my bedroom to get a drink of water, my daughter was sitting in the living room watching TV. I went over to her and said, “Vivian, what are you doing up, it is the middle of the night?” She looked up at me and said, “What? I thought it was morning. I was so excited to see what the tooth fairy would bring me; I just couldn’t sleep anymore.” She held up her precious coin and the three dollars and smiled up at me with a big smile. I took a deep breath and told her, ok sweet girl, but mama must go back to sleep.
I honestly do not remember if she went back to sleep or waited for the morning to come so she could show her dad the “Tooth Fairy loot.” What I do know is that the next day is when things began to unravel. Vivian was so excited about her Tooth Fairy coin that she didn’t want to leave it at home. We were headed to a store, and she asked me if she could bring her coin. I agreed because it didn’t seem like something worth fighting over. But I did make a mental note that she put the coin in her pocket, and remember thinking to myself, “I really hope it doesn’t fall out.”
Well, it did. It fell out. When we got home and stuck her hand in her pocket she didn’t find the coin. You know what happened next, right? Crying and sadness ensued. She was on the floor in a heap of tears before I even set my purse down. And I thought to myself, why didn’t I listen to my inner voice? Why?
We came up with a plan. Vivi decided she would write a note to the tooth fairy and explain what had happened. It read, “I’m sorry to say but I lost my Tooth Fairy coin. Can you give me a new Tooth Fairy coin please? Sincerely Vivian.” I assured her that the Tooth Fairy would understand and would most likely bring her a new coin. That evening as we fell asleep at bedtime, her innocent request for the Tooth Fairy faded from my mind. When I woke up around midnight and went downstairs to my own bedroom, I had no thoughts of coins or anything in my groggy mind.
At 5:45am, I heard the most awful wailing. I thought there was a hurt animal outside my bedroom window. I jumped up out of the bed and ran into the living room. As I looked up, I saw my daughter, crumpled up next to the railing upstairs in a heap of tears. I was completely confused. I ran upstairs and asked her what was wrong. She looked at me with a flood of teardrops rolling down her cheeks, “Mama, the tooth fairy didn’t bring me a new coin.”
The tooth fairy failed. Big time. Like massively failed. My heart sunk in that moment. All these tears, all these big emotions were preventable. We could have slept until 7am, if only the tooth fairy had done her job. But the thing is, everyone fails – even the Tooth Fairy. And maybe that’s not the worst lesson for a six-year-old to learn. Maybe failure is ok sometimes. Maybe it doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. Maybe, the Tooth Fairy will bring her two coins on the next visit. Whatever happens, failure is not the end of the story; for the Tooth Fairy or for us.
