We Suck.

We suck.  Really.  We do.  Because Quinn came home from school, having lost his front tooth, all excited.  Then, he promptly put it in a cup for safe keeping, then put the cup on his dresser so his mother couldn't throw it out when doing the dishes, and so he wouldn't lose it and have to write an apology note to the tooth fairy.   He exhibited full tooth-loss etiquette.  Followed every last rule.  And STILL, the next morning, the tooth fairy forgot to take his tooth and leave a dollar.  He came downstairs with his tooth in his hand, near tears. 

Quinn: "The tooth fairy didn't want it."
Mom: "Uhhhhhhhhhhh."
Quinn: "It was in the cup, and I put the cup in my bed by the pillow, and she didn't TAKE IT!"

((Forehead slap)).  We suck.  I madly whispered to Rob to sneak upstairs and "check" to see if he could "find" the tooth fairy's deposit.  In the mean time, I tried to backpedal with Quinn.

Mom: "Quinn, maybe the tooth fairy doesn't need any more teeth, because she has enough for her job.  You said that Tucker lost a tooth yesterday, too.  Maybe she filled her quota for our area.  And there's  a recession going on - money is tight, you know...."  LAME. LAME.  LAME. 

Rob (coming in and stopping the train wreck that I was creating): "Quinn, did you actually LOOK for a dollar, or did you just see the tooth and not go any farther than that?"

Quinn: "Well, if she didn't take the tooth, I'm sure she didn't leave anything."

Mom: "Well, let's go look together.  Maybe she did leave something, and just didn't need the tooth."

So, we went upstairs and rummaged under the pillows and found, under the covers, surprise surprise, a single greenback.  I thought we'd saved the day. But Quinn still looked crestfallen. 

Quinn: "It's supposed to be gold."

Mom: "What?  What are you talking about?  You got a dollar last time..."

Quinn: "Yeah, but that was because I lost my tooth.  You told me the tooth fairy doesn't give golden dollars if there's no tooth.  There WAS a tooth this time, and I still didn't get a gold dollar."

This tooth fairy is MUCH too legalistic.  Honestly.  How much longer can I cover her incompetent tracks????

So here's where I was debating very seriously with myself.  Do I come clean, admit what an idiot I am, and take all that disappointment aimed at the tooth fairy onto myself?  Or do I continue to weave fanciful,  elaborate rules in order to keep the "magic" alive?  Good parenting would probably say I should do the former, but... I just didn't want to kill his innocent childhood just yet.  He's going to be losing alot of the "magic" of childhood in a very few years.  It's death will not be at my hands.  So, I told a whopper.

Mom: "Quinn, I have a feeling the tooth fairy didn't take your tooth, because she didn't see it in the cup, and she thought you lost it.  So she gave you the regular dollar.  Let's put it with the dollar, and a note explaining everything, under your pillow tonight, and we'll see what happens."

This perked him up considerably.  It was all a silly misunderstanding.  The Tooth Fairy will redeem herself.

She just had BETTER not mess up again!!!