About the Tooth Fairy

Grayson lost a tooth on Sunday night: the second in a week. He bellyached about it all day, barely eating anything for fear it would come out in his food and he'd swallow it. But finally, round about 8:30 in the evening, out it came. So he put it in his little tooth box next to the bed for the Tooth Fairy.

Now, we have not had a lot of luck with the tooth fairy here lately. Last week he lost a tooth at his dad's house, and put it out for the Tooth Fairy at our house and – can you believe it? – she didn't show! Monday morning came and the tooth was still there.

Well, we figured maybe the Tooth Fairy was confused because he had lost the tooth at Dad's but put it out at our house, so we very carefully put the tooth out again on Monday night, loudly announcing to the walls of Grayson's bedroom that we WERE PUTTING THE TOOTH RIGHT HERE. Sure enough, she came Monday night and left $7... her usual $5, plus a bonus I guess for being a day late.

THIS time we were going to be extra sure that she got the message, so again we were very LOUD in announcing that the tooth was being placed in the box as Grayson went to bed Sunday night.

Well, at 6 a.m. Monday morning, the Tooth Fairy woke up with a start and realized she hadn't taken it. She also realized that she had no cash in the house at all.

So she fluttered around the house in the dark in a panic, trying to scrape something together, and ended up leaving three dollar bills cadged from Grayson's own bank, plus a handful of dimes, nickles and quarters cobbled together from every known change accumulation in the house and car. It amounted to a little over $5. She piled the change up in little towers by denomination, rolled the bills into a tube and put them in the box, and crept off to bed with the tooth.

Grayson was delighted that she had showed up, and was amused at the random assortment of bills and change she left for him. He put it all BACK into his allowance bank.

We have a theory about the Tooth Fairy, Grayson and I. We think there are many tooth fairies: that every kid probably has a different one. We think this because A) we have determined that no single fairy could handle the job alone... kids lose teeth all over the world every day. But also B) because not every kid gets the same thing from the tooth fairy. Levi's tooth fairy, for example, leaves comic books. Some kids have cheap tooth fairies, that just leave a quarter or a dollar for a tooth. Some have extravagant tooth fairies who cough up ten bucks or more (Heck, I'd considering cashing in my own teeth for that kind of money).

And sometimes you get a tooth fairy who's new on the job or new to your beat who does funny stuff. One time the tooth fairy put the money under Grayson's pillow - which she had never done before. One time there were five $1 bills all crumpled up into little individual balls and scattered on the bedside table. One time it was a single, perfectly flat, crisp new $5 bill. One time it was all in quarters. Twice she has brought books.

You just never know with fairies.