The Tooth Fairy

At the table last night, my son--the one who is probably just a few days shy of losing his first tooth--declared that the tooth fairy is just your mom. Later, in the safety of my bedroom, I pushed to find out who had told him this revelation. He insisted that no one told him but that he decided it must be true because he doesn't believe in fairies.

"Fairies," he declared, "are just in girly movies with a lot of glitter."

We've never said a word one way or the other about the Easter bunny or leprechauns or any other mythical creature except, of course, Santa Claus and Tahoe Tessie because regaling my vacationing children with stories about giant lake monsters is so darn fun. And so, too, is Santa.

And darn it, I want one more year of Santa.

"So tell me, are you the tooth fairy?" was one of the lines interjected into our very long conversation. And, truth be told, none of my children have ever lost a tooth so technically I have never been the tooth fairy. However, we always said that, when asked, we were not going to blatantly lie to the faces of our children. I came clean about the fairy.

"What do you think about the Easter bunny?" I asked him.

"Seriously? A giant bunny with a sack. I don't think so."

"How about leprechauns?" I continued.

"Mom," he looked at me like I'd simultaneously sprouted horns and developed giant blue spots on my skin. "No."

"Elves?" I asked, thinking that if he didn't believe in leprechauns he probably didn't believe in elves and Santa was soon to be out the door as well.

"Well those things are sure real because they come to our house every year!" he said, his eyes dancing with Christmas delight.

And then, before we broke up our little meeting, I threatened him within an inch of his life should he ever tell his brother or a single one of his friends. Because, seriously, I don't want to be the parent of that kid.

"Now, can you go get daddy for me?" I asked him because the version you're getting is abbreviated and the whole conversation was really hysterical.

"Are you going to talk to him about the tooth fairy?" he questioned.

Since that would more or less be the topic of our conversation I told him that I was.

His eyes widened into huge gray-green saucers. "Daddy doesn't know?"