Tooth Fairy Tales

On All Saints' Day, Monkey1 ducked out of the class line into church, spoke to her teacher, and joined me. The "sit with Mom" privilege, or in her case, play with Monkey3 during Mass, since I sit in the back with the other mothers of squeakers, squawkers, and just barely walkers. When Monkey3 got tired of this, I wrapped her up on my back, and Monkey1 showed me her loose tooth. All during the rest of Mass she sat there wiggling it; I was surprised she did not have it out by the closing prayer. She's very proactive with her teeth, unlike me, who would pamper a dangling tooth for days and days. So no surprise, when I picked up the Monkeys after school, the tooth was out. "It came out during lunch!" Monkey2 told me (they have lunch at the same time), and Monkey1 was proudly wearing a necklace with a plastic tooth-shaped box containing the lost tooth.

Hours and groggily later at 2 a.m. after dealing with Monkey3, I suddenly remembered the tooth. I went to investigate the situation. Monkey1 sleeps in a full-size loft bed strewn with books, dolls, various blankets and pillows, and she is in there somewhere. Hopefully the tooth in the tooth-box was under her pillow, but getting it was Mission Impossible. I went back to bed. My husband half woke up, I said something about the tooth, and he grunted and went back to sleep. He had pulled off his share of tooth fairy missions, so I knew this one was on me. I lay awake for a long time.

In the morning, Monkey1 came in with disappointment and a note from the Tooth Fairy. She said she read it, but I think she's in that reading phase where she can get a lot of the words but miss the comprehension. So Dad read it, eliciting peals of laughter from the Monkeys as the story unfolded. The note said:

Dear Monkey1,
I am very sorry I could not change your tooth into a quarter. Here's what happened...
I brought a Tooth-Fairy-in-Training, and she got so mixed up! I let her go in your room by herself, and first she brought out a doll shoe because I told her that your tooth was in something. Then she brought out your glasses because they were shiny (I hope she put them back where you could find them). Then she brought out a pencil because it was cylindrical.
Then the baby woke up and your Mom said we were making too much noise. The Tooth-Fairy-in-Training wanted to look in your sister's mouth, and of course, flying that close to a baby, she was grabbed... Her wings got slobbered on, so now I have to take her somewhere with sun to dry them off!
I will come back tomorrow and have your tooth exchange done properly!
Please have your Mom make a tooth pillow with a pocket to make this easier.
Fondly,
Your Tooth Fairy

"What?!" I interjected, "I have to make... Who told the Tooth Fairy that I can sew?"

Monkey1 giggled and showed me the picture that the Tooth Fairy drew of the desired tooth pillow.

"Did Monkey3 really see the Tooth Fairy?" she asked.
"Yes."
"How come?" After all, kids are not supposed to see the Tooth Fairy.
"Because Monkey3 doesn't have any teeth."
"And you saw the Tooth Fairy?"
"Yes. They were making a lot of noise. You should have seen the Tooth-Fairy-in-Training trying to carry your glasses; they were really heavy for her. She could barely fly."
"Did she put them back?" asked Dad.
"Evidently," I pointed out, "Monkey1 is wearing them."
"They were in a different place than where I took them off," she told us.

Monkey1 took the note to school to share with her class.

As instructed, I made a tooth pillow. It looked like a molar, a large soft cube with two roots off the bottom, and for a pocket I attached a pretty little drawstring bag. Monkey1 was very pleased with it, and we put her tooth in the little bag that evening.

In the morning, not only was there a coin instead of a tooth in the bag, there was a note pinned to the tooth pillow. It said:

Dear Monkey1,
The Tooth-Fairy-in-Training tried again... she was a bit over-enthusiastic when it came to the quarter. I'm sure you won't mind since you had to wait an extra night.
Fondly,
Your Tooth Fairy
P.S. Please use the tooth pillow next time too!

The coin was not a quarter, but a golden coin. Monkey1 was very excited when I had her examine it closely and she realized it was $1!

And so the stories begin...