The Tooth Fairy

Justice is 10 years old, and still believes in The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.  Every year at Christmas I sadly hold my breath thinking it's the "last year", but it never is.  The flying tooth-stealing fairy and the man-sized candy-bearing rabbit are still completely rational in his mind, and that's OK with me.

Maybe it's OK with me because I loved that part of my childhood.  I vividly remember the day I found out with absolute certainty that there was no Santa Claus.  I had known for a year or so already, but it's never certain until a well-meaning parent solidifies your question with the dreaded truth.  I also remember the day I tried to tell Shandi that there was no Santa Claus.  We were living in Massachusetts and we were transferring to New Orleans right around Christmas.  The movers were coming to the house the week before Christmas and there was absolutely no way we would be able to pull off Santa on Christmas since her "Santa Gift" was a Barbie Dream House and I knew it wasn't going to fit in the car.  So I sat her down and told her there was no Santa.   Biggest mistake EVER.  She was so UPSET, but rather than believing me and saying "I knew it!" like most kids would, she screamed "YOU ARE A LIAR, WHY WOULD YOU TRY AND TELL ME SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE!!"  Not the reaction I expected.  She said that she already told Santa that Christmas would have to wait until we got to New Orleans, just bring her presents later after we got there.  Well why didn't I just think of that?

And we never spoke of Santa again.  EVER.  That was it.  I tell people that story all the time and she laughs, but we never did have any other conversation about Santa.  We never discussed it with the other kids, either.  If they come at us with the "Is Santa real" question, I always answer with "If you don't believe, he will not come." and that's usually the last time I hear about it.   My oldest son Jamaal teases me constantly about it and the family holiday joke is "Who is gonna tell Mom there is no Santa?" but that's OK with me.

I have friends that don't do Santa at all, and I understand everyone's point of view on the subject.  Mine is just that children can only be innocent and live like this for a short time in their lives and I want mine to enjoy every second of it.  I learned a very valuable lesson after trying to tell Shandi about Santa, and I will never rob that joy from my kids, ever.  And who am I kidding, anyway?  I think I love those imaginary childhood traditions more than the kids do.  If they don't believe, then what's the point?  When they stop believing in Santa, the cookies don't get left out anymore, the reindeer don't leave the lettuce mess on the porch, and the kids don't give you that look of sweet innocent happiness when they wake up to random plastic eggs that a rabbit supposedly laid in the backyard.

Yesterday marked a big occasion in the Mack house.  Justice pulled his own tooth.  As I mentioned in a previous post, http://mackfamilymom.blogspot.com/2012/05/jack-goes-to-dentist.html, Justice is terrified of the dentist.  I also mentioned in http://mackfamilymom.blogspot.com/2012/08/two-great-swimmers.html, that he has anxiety.  When Justice gets a loose tooth, it's nearly a tragedy in the house.  He cries and cries until either I have to take him to the dentist to have the tooth pulled (last resort, but it's happened twice), or I pin him down and pull it myself (most likely scenario).  Either way, he's always traumatized.   Last week  he came in my room crying and told me his tooth was loose.  I sighed, and told him to start wiggling it and see what would happen.  Yesterday, he came back to me crying a little harder, telling me his tooth was hurting.  I looked at it, and sure enough his gum around the tooth was red and a little puffy.  I told him "The tooth MUST come out in the next hour or I'm taking you to the dentist!"  He started to sob and all that normal stuff he does when his anxiety kicks in full force and then disappeared into the bathroom to get something to help him pull it out.

He came back every ten minutes or so, crying, with a bloody rag in his hand to check in with me and let me know he just couldn't do it.  Finally I said "OK, that's it.  Lay down, I'm pulling it myself".  He freaked out and he gave it one good solid twist, and out came the tooth.  Once I convinced him that he wasn't bleeding to death, he was happy as could be that he finally pulled out his own tooth without any further intervention from me.

And I went to check on him this morning, and this is what I saw.  A 10 year old boy clutching his tooth fairy money in his sleep.  And as I watched him sleep, a sad but familiar thought ran through my head... "This HAS to be the last time he believes in The Tooth Fairy".  And it truly is, he only has one more baby tooth left and they will all be gone.

Disclaimer:  NO, The Tooth Fairy does not normally leave ten bucks per tooth in the Mack house.  I was feeling sentimental and sappy and was proud of him for pulling it out himself so he got a little extra this time around.