Monday, January 16, 2012

The Tooth Fairy



My little one is 8 years old, and very sensitive. He believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. That last one is hanging on by a thread though, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to cause the other two to become extinct soon.

The last tooth he lost, he overheard me tell my husband that I have given my last $5 to him. He’s not stupid, he put 2 and 2 together and realized the only $5 he had ALLEGEDLY came from the tooth fairy. So he asked me about it. I stood behind my lie until he looked me in the eye and said, “Tell me the truth.” So I did. I told him that I put the money there.

Fast forward to this weekend, when he looses another tooth. Puts this one under the pillow, wakes up in the morning and there’s no cash there. Now he’s really mad, and comes to me saying that he thinks the tooth fairy is a lie. I stalled, didn’t give an answer either way. Told him he could put his tooth back under his pillow with a note and see what happens. Talk to hubs, we agree to continue the Big Lie. This morning I hand hubs $5 to put under the pillow. Figure I’ll tackle the talk about non-existent gift giving fairies another time.

THEN I get a text from my small child calling me a liar, and saying the tooth fairy is fake and that he believed it. I apologized and explained that when I was a kid, I loved the tooth fairy, so wanted to do the same thing for him. I don’t think he’s speaking to me now.

Anywho, I had hubs check that note that was left with the tooth. It was asking for demanding $10 (twice the normal rate!) for being late. That little extortionist!

After I apologized to the little guy, I told him to go talk to dad. It went something like this –

Little Guy: Dad, is the tooth fairy real?

Hubs: Whatever you believe in your heart, that’s what’s real.

WHAT?! Well I believe in the winning lottery ticket fairy, and that bitch hasn’t made any stops at my house. I digress. There’s something horrible about the change you see in a child’s eyes when he stops believing. That magic is gone, and replaced with a shitty reality in which your parents lie to you, and some of the best things you know are fake. They never look at Christmas morning the same again, after finding out that Santa isn’t real. Sure, they’re excited, but it’s not amazing and magical.

So now we’ve got to have a little talk, my darling sensitive child and I. And I’m going to tell him the truth. And it’s going to be harder on me than on him. *sigh*