Tooth Fairy Musings

When my son lost his first tooth, the tooth fairy brought a little compass.  We'd started hiking regularly as a family and Daddy had his own compass, so the thought was that this would be special.

I think the second tooth was the big derailment... Daddy brought home a hiking back pack.  (We were going to get one anyway.)  Third tooth, I was informed the hiking boots were already on the way with the same rationale.

So... here we are with a highly generous hiking tooth fairy and... now my son is losing interest in hiking.  Looking back on the first few months of tooth fairy experience, I thought it was time to ponder the fun, the mistakes, and the plan :)

I think the first one was a full success.  The compass was small.  We reported what had happened when we lost teeth as kids and suggested he see what happened.  We've been playful and maintained it as a fun interaction.

I'm thinking the cost of the gifts for two and three were over the top, but I don't think it will be a big issue because my son is just gaining a concept of cost.  I had a bit of a concern that switching from hiking would be a problem, but I really don't think it will because the tooth fairy seems to know things :)

Finally, a funny story about the third tooth which came out as we were leaving on vacation.  Would the tooth fairy be able to find my son on the California coast?  The chatty tooth fairy left a note that said hiking boots were being dropped off on his bed and provided a special chocolate since he'd been taking such good care of his teeth and would need to wait for the boots.  The next morning, my child said he discovered the empty chocolate wrapper.  The tooth fairy was accused of lying!  The hypothesis of a chocolate thief was floated.  Clearly, something serious was afoot :)  Well, I mentioned that I'd seen the chocolate as I went to bed, so the tooth fairy was off the hook for misleading him.  No one admitted to being a chocolate thief.  He clearly did not remember having eaten it at some point during the night / morning.  So, he wrote the tooth fairy a note explaining about the empty wrapper.  Now, what should a tooth fairy do?  The very tolerant tooth fairy left a note in his room sympathizing with his distress.  But, the replacement chocolate was left at his place on the table!

We've really enjoyed the playful aspect of the tooth fairy while refusing to say anything confirming existence and asking lots of probing questions.  I don't think it will last long for Mr. Inquisitive, but he's having a great time with it now and so are we!

You can see the three tooth gap as he hangs upside down... loves that frisbee!