Mom, are you the tooth fairy?

SPOILER ALERT FOR A CERTAIN CHILDHOOD ENIGMA

As you can see the tooth fairy has had SEVERAL recent chances to complete her duties. And she has. Just not at all ON TIME. As in - she was late in delivering goods lots of times in a row. This caused the child to deeply doubt and employ his 7 years of wisdom to finally ask, 'Mom, is there really a tooth fairy or are you the one who puts money under my pillow?'

Not one to think quickly on the spot all I could blurt out was, 'Well, what do YOU think?' He continues on to explain that he does in fact think that it is me and that I should be putting candy and not money under his pillow. I try to explain in true motherly fashion that candy would certainly cause other teeth to ROT out and now that he knows it's me there is no reason to continue putting things under his pillow. I suggest a straight out trade instead. His reply, 'well tonight you can just bring up a cereal bar for under my pillow.' At least he didn't ask for a cupcake. He also asked, point blank, what I did then with all the teeth he's lost. You just never really see these painful truthseeking moments coming. It made me cringe to confess that I toss them out but it didn't seem to phase him at all. He was simply curious.

And in the background we hear, from the 9 year old brother, "So the tooth fairy isn't real?" This seemed the most distressing moment of the evening for me as I knew that my answer would seal her fate in our household for good. But I followed their lead and answered truthfully.

That childhood fantasy and innocence. It's so much fun and always hard to see slip away. So for now this tooth fairy can stop forgetting to remember to set her alarm. To all you other lucky tooth fairies out there - I advise timely completion of all duties!