the tooth fairy
During our recent exploits with my daughter Bee and the tooth fairy, I've been thinking about my own childhood. When I was 7 or 8 I wrote my fairy a letter, and tucked it under my pillow along with my tooth. I wish I still had it, but from what I remember I drew a picture of her and asked her what she looked like (I always imagined something like the blue fairy in Pinocchio with blonde hair, a sparkly blue dress and wings).
When I woke up in the morning I saw that the tooth fairy had left a note for me! It was written in a manly scrawl and had a drawing of an unshaven lumberjack, carrying an axe. It said "This is what I look like. Love, the Tooth Fairy". I couldn't believe that of all the rotten luck, my tooth fairy was a lumberjack!! I think I shed a few tears that morning as I ran into my parents room to tell them about my tooth fairy. I wish I could see how my mom reacted (she probably had no idea, the drawing was clearly my dad's doing). Years later, it makes me laugh.
It appears we aren't the only ones who have forgotten their tooth fairy duties from time to time. Many quick-witted parents have come to the rescue of tardy tooth fairies, telling stories of fairies caught in storms and cobwebs. Here are a few ideas I thought were brilliant:
-My sister-in-law says that she takes her wedding ring off when a child looses a tooth, and puts it on her dresser. All day long when she looks at her bare finger, she remembers, and then when she gets ready for bed (after the kids have gone to sleep) she sees her ring on the dresser and remembers to check under the pillow.
-Amy wrote:
"The tooth fairy forgot to come visit me once. I believe I was crying when I showed my mom. The solution? She stuffed my chubby, nearly newborn baby brother into my little sister's ballet tutu, taped a dress-up crown on his head and carried him into my room in a flying motion. She told me that the fairy was very busy and has asked my brother to cover for her but forgot that he was just a baby. I loved the resolution but never believed after that one, so use that sort of solution with caution."
-Jennie says:
"At our house the child who loses a tooth writes a post-it note telling daddy the good news and it goes on the bathroom mirror. Good thing the tooth fairy sees that note while she/he is brushing teeth!"
-I also heard of a family where the tooth fairy leaves change from a different country each time (coins family or friends have brought back from recent trips) and then they spend the next week learning all about each country.
Love these ideas! Any other tips or ideas out there?
03.12.2012
Reader Comments (41)
We explained to our kids that we signed the "first tooth bonus" and "no first-night guarantee" contract! Then it's exciting to see when the fairy comes.
And she brings the $1 gold coins when she shows.
oh no! I am with you. my poor, trusting 8-year-old now thinks the tooth fairy takes president's day off, which was the explanation she sorted out herself after coming out of her bedroom president's day morning looking terribly dissapointed.
love your SIL's idea and will give it a try for sure!
I always play the 'she must have dropped it somewhere in your room' card and help hunt for the coin, which mysteriously turns up somewhere :)
Might as well capitalize on the fact that my kids seem to think I am the only one able to locate misplaced objects in the house.....
My friend laughed when my daughter told her matter of factly one Monday morning that the Tooth fairy does not work on Sundays.
In our house, we didn't have the tooth fairy. Tommy Toothpick came, and along with it he would leave us a detailed note of the adventures he had in our house that night (encounters with the dog, making a mess with our food, playing with a favorite toy, etc.)
At the end of the letter he signed it, along with a little drawing of himself, a stick figure-like person,after all, he was made of toothpicks!
I can't wait to carry on the tradition, now if my son would only lose some teeth-he's 6.5!
I just love your blog. Thank you for all the wonderful posts. I found your blog years ago - before I had children - and now that I have children I find myself loving it even more. I just love how you make life beautiful. You take the simple things and make them memorable in a very practical, very doable way. I hope I can do the same thing for my family. And with your suggestions it's a little easier :)
Have to share our forgetful toothfairy story. We were traveling to Indiana to visit family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Our 6 year old daughter lost a tooth in the car which we never found. She was extremely upset because she thought the tooth fairy would not visit unless there a lost tooth was provided. I told her not to worry the tooth fairy would still visit despite the missing tooth. That night we put her to bed, I had a glass of wine with family and promptly forgot about the tooth fairy visit. My darling daughter woke up, checked under her pillow and cried her little heart out. Feeling about two inches tall I was suddenly hit with divine inspiration. I told her to go get dressed. The tooth fairy was obviously confused since we were visiting Aunt Cindy's house. Once dressed we went out to the car and what do you know...the tooth fairy left a $1.50 in quarters in her car seat cup holder.
Our fairy missed a tooth retrieval. The next night she left a note saying she had the flu and didn't want to pass all her germs to the kids she was supposed to visit that night. Since my son had recently been the victim of an unfortunate bout of stomach flu he was more than happy she didn't come. The extra dollar she left to apologize didn't hurt either.
aw! I've been a bad tooth fairy to my little ones - but they do have so many darn little teeth to loose - it's hard to keep up sometimes! My friend just posted a tooth fairy pillow tutorial that your little ones might like - I'm really not trying to spam you here but it's so perfect with your last two posts!
http://artfulife.blogspot.com/2012/01/tooth-fairy-pillow-tutorial.html
Have a great weekend!
hahahahaha. i laughed so much at the lumberjack picture story. hahahahaha
The tooth fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood. The folklore states that when a child loses a baby tooth, if he or she places it beneath the bed pillow, the tooth fairy will visit while the child sleeps, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment.
Our tooth fairy explained that she took each of our lost teeth and put them up in the sky to become stars. Each new note had a drawing of our constellation with the new star twinkling. My constellation was called "Toothless" and was a big tooth outline. I'm sure the tooth fairy had to be creative to come up with constellations for sister #2 and #3...
love this! I won't be having kids any time soon but I'll definitely be remembering these ideas!
Oh my gosh, your story about the tooth fairy lumberjack made me laugh and laugh. Gold!!
Love the lumberjack story! Your dad sounds hilarious. Perhaps more obvious to you when you are not 7/8. Ha.
The awkward tooth fairy situation I don't like dealing with is when my son's friends declare that the tooth fairy left them 10 bucks! Or, worse, a Nintendo DS! Our tooth fairy left $5 for his first tooth but after that, it's been 2 bucks per tooth, sometimes with a special quarter thrown in. I don't know what to say to him when he hears what other kids are getting ... aside from the obvious "clearly the tooth fairy doesn't like you as much".
: P
We have a loose tooth just discovered this morning. When it comes out I'm doing the engagement ring trick to remember. Thanks for the tip!
jackie
There is used to be an awkward moment where it was'nt the one clue.
Toothfairy they said, well let's stick to the bed stories.
Ummmm . . . A couple of weeks ago we watched "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and now I'm kind of afraid of the tooth fairy! (Not really - but it is a pretty scary film with a pretty scary explanation of the tooh fairy)
The tooth fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood. The folklore states that when a child loses a baby tooth, if he or she places it beneath the bed pillow, the tooth fairy will visit while the child sleeps, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment.
I always tell stories to my children when they go to sleep and it includes the tooth fairy especially when they are lazy to have their teeth brush.
great story
PK Torrent