Clearly I am a bad mom. This is the second time I have known my child has lost a tooth, and failed to remember to exchange the tooth for money.
The first time, Madeleine woke up to use the bathroom at the same time I was heading in to make the magic happen. I went to bed with the intention of resting for a few minutes then getting back to her pillow, but I was too enamored with my own pillow and woke up the next morning to cries of "My tooth is still here!" By some miracle I was able to run downstairs, write a note and put it at her place at the breakfast table with the money, and while she was revelling in that, I ran upstairs and grabbed the tooth before she could check.
The second time I just forgot. She came home from school with the tooth in the special tooth necklace that the school nurse has for such momentous occasions. But this being the 5th one she has lost, she made no big fuss at bed time. In the morning, I was again jarred awake by lamentations of why the Tooth Fairy failed. I turned to my husband with wide eyes...she isn't 5, she is 7...surely a note will not suffice. But with no other choice, I told her perhaps the necklace was too hard to open, and perhaps she could open it and see if she comes. Then while she was using the bathroom I dashed off a quick note, tip-toed into her room and grabbed the tooth from the necklace, dropped the note and money, and ran down to breakfast. Hoping and hoping that this would not be the day she realizes I am the Tooth Fairy, the grace of God blinded her to my handwriting, and she believed.
In three weeks Madeleine will be eight. And I know that the second she realizes that the Tooth Fairy is less a flying magical creature and more a tired family member she will mull it over with Sophie, as she does with all the important information she learns (Nazis, tornadoes, Bruins stats...) Both children will go from my babies to big kids in a heartbeat, and the Easter Bunny and Santa will be next.
It would happen eventually, but the "Mommy guilt" won't let me stop wondering if I had not forgotten those teeth, could we have held on to the little kid stage for just a bit longer?
The first time, Madeleine woke up to use the bathroom at the same time I was heading in to make the magic happen. I went to bed with the intention of resting for a few minutes then getting back to her pillow, but I was too enamored with my own pillow and woke up the next morning to cries of "My tooth is still here!" By some miracle I was able to run downstairs, write a note and put it at her place at the breakfast table with the money, and while she was revelling in that, I ran upstairs and grabbed the tooth before she could check.
The second time I just forgot. She came home from school with the tooth in the special tooth necklace that the school nurse has for such momentous occasions. But this being the 5th one she has lost, she made no big fuss at bed time. In the morning, I was again jarred awake by lamentations of why the Tooth Fairy failed. I turned to my husband with wide eyes...she isn't 5, she is 7...surely a note will not suffice. But with no other choice, I told her perhaps the necklace was too hard to open, and perhaps she could open it and see if she comes. Then while she was using the bathroom I dashed off a quick note, tip-toed into her room and grabbed the tooth from the necklace, dropped the note and money, and ran down to breakfast. Hoping and hoping that this would not be the day she realizes I am the Tooth Fairy, the grace of God blinded her to my handwriting, and she believed.
In three weeks Madeleine will be eight. And I know that the second she realizes that the Tooth Fairy is less a flying magical creature and more a tired family member she will mull it over with Sophie, as she does with all the important information she learns (Nazis, tornadoes, Bruins stats...) Both children will go from my babies to big kids in a heartbeat, and the Easter Bunny and Santa will be next.
It would happen eventually, but the "Mommy guilt" won't let me stop wondering if I had not forgotten those teeth, could we have held on to the little kid stage for just a bit longer?
