My kids tend to lose their teeth late so my six-year-old, Eli, was uber-excited when he lost his first two this month. When the illustrious tooth fairy brought him $5 for his first lost tooth, he was giddy. After his older brother, Jacob, knocked out Eli’s second loose tooth with an elbow to the mouth in basketball, through gushing blood, Eli didn’t even cry. All he was thinking about was his next tryst with the tooth fairy.
We warned him that his brothers had only received a dollar for each tooth they lost after the first one. Eli was not discouraged. He wrote a note to the tooth fairy to politely ask for $20 for this special second tooth. He placed the note under his pillow with the tooth in a Ziploc bag and fell asleep, undoubtedly dreaming of all the ways to spend his bicuspid bucks…. (mounds of candy? Star Wars Legos? Justin Bieber tickets?)
At 1:18am Wilson and I heard Eli screaming and sobbing as he made his way into our room. He was so hysterical, we thought surely he had been stabbed or saw a ghost in his room. We tried to calm him as we patted him down for injuries and repeatedly asked what was wrong. He apparently had woken up in the night and breathlessly searched his pillow and bed for his dental dowry. The note and tooth were gone, a dollar bill in their place.
Giant tears splashed down Eli’s face and his body shuddered as he described the horror of the missing note and the wrongness of the measly dollar. He was certain the note had been lost or destroyed before the tooth fairy ever saw it. Since she never saw the note, she was not aware of his deep desire for that 20 spot.
As he continued to bawl and pound the pillow with his fists (he has a flair for drama) I wondered –in my tired stupor– whether we had failed to teach him the value of money. When he couldn’t be consoled with reason, I asked him why the money was so important and what he planned to do with it. He could not give a satisfactory answer, except to express his profound disappointment in the tooth fairy legend.
After 45 minutes of cajoling and backrubs, he finally fell asleep. When he woke in the morning, he came bounding into our room, fired up to show us a second dollar he said he must have missed the first time. With $2 in hand, he skipped downstairs for breakfast as if the tooth fairy fiasco had never happened. I asked Wilson if he had snuck in to remedy the situation, but he had not. I certainly didn’t pad the pillow.
We still aren’t sure how Eli came up with the second dollar. Maybe he pinched it from his own piggy bank. It would be just like him to take control of the happy ever after to his own fairy tale.
If not, I’ll have to start believing in that sneaky tooth fairy again….
carpool candy 
Hi, Brooke!. . . . . . The Tooth Fairy is very big in our family, also. What a great story! I think all your boys are terrific! Though, Eli, I must admit, is my all time favorite. I’m hoping that one day my six year old granddaughter, Daliah, will meet him, fall in love, they will marry, and then Elie will be part of my family, too! The kid’s got “moxie!” I was introduced to your blogg about two years ago and have never had the time to read it, regularly. I am the lady, who sits in a crowd with a hand in the air shouting, “I can do that!” Now, there is a change blowing in the wind for me, so, with more of my own time, I am going to become one of your regular “groupies!” “I Can Do That!” Can’t wait to go back to read all your past pieces. Keep up the good work! You always put a smile on my face! I love your style! . . . . .kb
Thanks so much for the comments. I appreciate you reading and becoming a fan!
The alternative outcome, Brooke, is to give your daughter $20 and have her take it to school to show it off to her teacher and all of her little friends. Which of course leads to angry phone calls and muttering comments from the other parents. You chose wisely.
Gotta love that kid!!
Brings back great memories. Love the happy ending!
Great story, Brooke! I can picture it perfectly. I had to laugh when I saw the title of this post because Havi confessed tonight that she had lost another tooth (it was in the back of her mouth so I didn’t notice it missing) and she had been planning to put it under her pillow without telling me so she could see if the tooth fairy was real or me! So funny — 10 years old, incredibly bright, and yet she is still not quite sure what to believe! Thank goodness she fessed up…