Imaginary Friends Redux

Last night my 10 year old son lost a tooth while brushing before bed. We placed it in a plastic bag, stuffed it under his pillow (along with a note he wrote to the tooth fairy, asking her just what she does with all those teeth) and put him to sleep.

Then we watched a movie and promptly fell asleep as well.

This morning we woke to the sound of my son crying. At first we thought he was having a bad dream, and then it all made sense.

WE FORGOT TO BE THE TOOTH FAIRY!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, this has happened once before. At that time, it was January and we had the handy excuse of too many kids staying up too late to watch the Super Bowl.

Now what?

My husband can't believe that a 10 year old would still believe in the tooth fairy. I assured my son that we should just put the tooth under the pillow again tonight and he would get his money.

Then came the question:

"Are you the tooth fairy Mommy?"

I looked my son in the eye and asked him to repeat himself.

"Are you the tooth fairy Mommy?"

I looked at him again and said "Do you want the truth?"

Pause... "No Mommy."

"Okay", I said, "let's put your tooth under the pillow again tonight and we'll see what happens."

Let's face it, learning the truth about the tooth fairy only leads to learning about the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause.

Don't ask don't tell works for more than just the US Army.