A New Smile

Last night, as I was reading Cameron a book in bed, he was wiggling his tooth. Suddenly, he cried out, "I broke my tooth!" Then he began to laugh uncontrollably, jumping with excitement and shouting, "Yes! I can't believe it!"

I, meanwhile, was fighting back a wave of nausea at the sight of the small tooth that had landed on the bedspread and Cameron's bloody, toothless grin. I *totally* forgot how gross losing a tooth can be. Or maybe I never knew how gross it was because I was busy celebrating the impending visit of the Tooth Fairy. Still a bit green, I collected the tooth and congratulated Cameron. David and Matthew came running to see what all the fuss was about and Cameron showed off his new smile. Matthew, impressed, decided he needed to get in on the action. He opened his mouth, pointed at his own teeth and then commanded, "Take it out, Daddy!" (Daddy declined, much to Matthew's disappointment.)

Cameron and I carefully put the tooth in a small box and Cameron proceeded to worry about Tooth Fairy technicalities. "Should I put the box next to my pillow, so it's easier for her to get? No, she always looks under the pillow, I better put it there. But I'll put it on this edge of the pillow and I'll put my head on the other edge of the pillow so I don't block her way. Oh no! How is she going to get the box open! I better put the tooth in a bag instead. A bag with a hole in it."

At this point, I reassured Cameron that the Tooth Fairy's diminutive size is no reflection of her strength. I mean, the woman flies around with teeth and quarters and toys -- she's got some muscles. "Ohhhh, riiiiggghhhttt! Of course she can open the box!" Cameron agreed.

Now, fortunately, Cameron's expectation of the Tooth Fairy were fairly reasonable. I had begun to grow concerned when, a few weeks ago, I witnessed a conversation on Facebook about Tooth Fairy payments in which several people reported that their Tooth Fairy left twenties under pillows at their houses. "TWENTIES!" I thought. "My Tooth Fairy used to give me a quarter!!!" So I asked Cameron what he had heard about the Tooth Fairy.

"Well, when you lose your FIRST tooth," he explained, "she brings a toy. And after that, you just get money."

"Money!" I said. "How much money?"

"Well," Cameron confided, "I heard that sometimes you even get a DOLLAR!"

That's my kind of Tooth Fairy.

Cameron was thrilled this morning when he discovered that the Tooth Fairy had replaced his tooth with four quarters. Additionally, she had given him a space sticker set and a note detailing how she had nearly been hit by a firecracker as she braved the Fourth of July madness to make her way to his tooth.

And now, Cameron is enjoying exploring his new smile. "Look! I can drink through a straw right through this hole!"