Madison Killed the Tooth Fairy

But to Sam the evening deepened to darkness as he stood at the Haven; and as he looked at the grey sea he saw only a shadow on the water that was soon lost in the West. There still he stood far into the night, hearing only the sigh and murmur of the waves on the shores of Middle-earth, and the sound of then sank deep into his heart.

I feel like the elves have left Middle Earth. Little Cinderella lost her first tooth 8 weeks ago, to much excitement and joy and an anxiously awaited visit by the Tooth Fairy. But last night, she had a tale to tell:

"Mama, Madison* came to school today and told everyone that there was no tooth fairy. Her parents told her that it was them, and they brought out all of her teeth that she had lost and showed them to her. So there's no tooth fairy, it's just you and Daddy. She told our entire class at recess."

Dammit.

We got one, ONE, visit from the tooth fairy before it all went to Hell. Seriously? And my husband and I weren't even in town when it happened, we were on the one vacation we've taken together, ALONE, since our honeymoon almost 11 years ago.

So I mentioned to her, "Interesting, because Mommy and Daddy were in Germany when you lost your tooth, so it couldn't have been us."

Silence. She ponders this. "Oh, well it was probably Grams and Grandpa then."

Double dammit. Your reasoning skills are biting me in the a$$ right now.

Look, I know you can only control what your kids say/do so much. But if your child is the *first* one to discover that there's no Santa, no Tooth Fairy, no Easter Bunny, WHATEVER...if they're old enough to understand the truth, then they're old enough to not carpet bomb the rest of their classmates with nuclear truth torpedoes. Do the rest of us a favor and teach them a little discretion while you're at it, please.

Because little Madison and her parents took away a part of my kid's childhood yesterday, definitely before I was ready but more importantly, before she got to experience that excitement of waiting for a fairy to come to your home and leave you a present and a note more than once. Madison had 6 tooth fairy visits before figuring it out...my kid had one. And one isn't really enough.

Life is drab and mundane enough, we know that as adults, can't we try to keep the magic alive for as long as possible?

And, as much as I love little Madison, I am reconsidering any playdates or sleepovers with her between now and Christmas. If I could homeschool between now and then I would seriously consider it, because I am getting one more Santa-sponsored Christmas if it kills me.

My fingers are crossed, though, that we're going to be okay for the next six weeks. She hasn't brought up Santa in this conversation of "I know that it's really you, Mommy!" and I'm certainly not going there. I was a little heartened by the end of our Tooth Fairy discussion:

"Mama, the Tooth Fairy isn't real, it's you and Daddy." She widens her eyes and adds, "But the Desk Fairy [she leaves little treats for the first graders with clean desks] and Tinkerbell, THEY'RE real."

Okay, then.


*a pseudonym, obviously - who names their kid that anymore?