ME.
# 1 lost a tooth yesterday, and as children who lose teeth do, she put it in her special tooth bag and carefully placed it under her pillow, never doubting for a moment that when she would awaken the next morning her tooth would be gone and in it's place two shiny quarters.
That did not happen. #1 awakened and came to me and said sadly, "The Tooth Fairy Forgot Me."
I did manage not to burst into guilty tears thank goodness.
I did suffer from a flashback however.
You see when I was the same age as #1 the Tooth Fairy forgot me too. I awakened to see my tooth right where I had left it. I tore my bed apart looking for the loot, POSITIVE that the Tooth Fairy had just forgotten to take the tooth with her. Finding nothing in my bed, I ran to my parents room to share my unbelievable news. Their response was, "Uh-Oh, looks like the Tooth Fairy messed up." For whatever reason at that moment the light bulb came on for me. I said to my parents, "You are the Tooth Fairy?" They were honest and said yes. Then like a chain of explosions I realized that if the Tooth Fairy didn't exist then that meant trouble for Santa and the Easter Bunny too. I slowly asked about those beloved characters only to have my worst fears confirmed. No Santa, no Easter Bunny. It was a VERY traumatic morning.
#1 did not let this forgetful fairy thing dent her belief system one bit. She rallied herself with amazing speed and said, "Well, I am going to write her a note and I think you should call her and I bet she comes tonight." I said sure, I will call and you write your note and I am sure she will come tonight.
#1 wrote her note, left a response card for the Tooth Fairy to write back, along with a choice of 4 markers to write with. She asked me what color I thought the Tooth Fairy would like best and I told her. All those things along with the tooth are under her pillow. When she asked me if I called the Tooth Fairy I said yes and told her that she had a bazillion kids to deliver too and just couldn't make it here before #1 woke up. #1 was very understanding, and we speculated on the subject some more. Perhaps she was not really expecting to visit #1 because the tooth became loose and came out within a day. Etc..etc.
#1 is holding no grudge and is very forgiving to the beloved Tooth Fairy.
I only hope that we will fair so well when she discovers the truth.
I just couldn't bring myself to tell her today. She will be young for such a short time, and she gets such pleasure from imagining about these fictional characters that I just don't have the heart to break it to her yet.
Someday....just not now.
3 comments:
I totally hear you, Missy. Kayla and I are VERY concerned about Miss Bailey's Xmas this year. Lots of curious looks and speculative questions abound. I fear this will be the year we have to tell her. This huge lump forms in my gut every time I think about it. Ugh.
Given that I've rationalize a lot of things in my life, I like to think what I told my monster boy was pretty effective.
He came home from his dad's one weekend, with "santa's not real" scrawled in his planner over the holiday break. I asked him if he did that, or another child. He said his uncle (only two years his senior) had done that.
Beyond my annoyance that the white trash inlaws had again imposed themselves upon my child, I asked E if he believed that Santa wasn't real. He said "It's ok, I know he's not real."
I told him that while noone really knows when or where the original Santa himself came from, the belief and idea continues on. That being if you are really good throughout the year, you enjoy the rewards of fun gifts and time with your family during the holidays. I probably even went into a sidebar dialog of the differences between historical recollection versus myth and legend. But I digress.
So while Santa probably continues on... in some form through his decendants, he really needs the help of moms and dads to make sure all the good children receive presents. Therefore, moms and dads have authorization from Santa to buy presents and sign his name as the giver.
I don't know if monster boy went for it, but it made mom feel better.
My parents both had similar devastation moments as kids, learning not only that Santa wasn't real, but that their parents lied to them. They never told my sister and I about Santa, and neither of us ever believed in him. Instead we were the asshole kid in the class who tried to tell the others that their parents were liars.
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