One thing that I've kept doing, though, is going to All Saints every Wednesday to volunteer with the chess club there. Sometimes Blake brings his lunch to the library, and we'll eat together. While I was there this week, he suddenly gasped and looked down at his food, and then pointed out to me the tooth that had popped out when he took a bite, and which was sitting right on top. He was excited because he knows, after losing six other teeth, that a visit from the tooth fairy means fifty cents. I was excited because I didn't have to pull it out myself.
The nurse at All Saints keeps a stash of little plastic treasure chests for kids to put their teeth into to make sure that they get home safely, and Blake was really eager to go get one.
We have this little tooth pillow that used to be mine when I was a kid. He put his tooth into it, went to bed, and his unmotivated dad completely forgot about it until the next morning.
"My tooth is still here!"
"Ooohhh... You know what? Um... I forgot to let the Tooth Fairy know."
"She doesn't just know?"
"Well, um, they give you her email address once you become a parent, and you're supposed to let her know. I'll be sure she gets the message today."
I say these things, and then think that surely, SURELY, he must be on to the game, and is only playing along because he knows he gets money out of it. But last night convinced me that Blake is still a true believer.
It was time for bed, and I was trying to get him to follow me into his room, knowing that Jack wouldn't get into bed until he saw Blake do the same thing. Blake kept hanging back by the chair where his coat and school bag were, digging around his coat pocket.
"What are you doing?"
"I just need to check my coat pocket real quick!"
He walked into his room with a slip of paper hidden in his hands, held close to his body where he thought I wouldn't see it. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was nothing.
"Well, what's written on it?"
And then he just dissolved into sobs and tears.
"I took the tooth back to school to show my friends, and I lost it there, but I knew that you were going to send a note to the Tooth Fairy today, and I didn't want her to think that I was lying about losing a tooth!"
Here's what the paper said:
I disguised my handwriting the best I could, wrote "I Love You" on it, and tucked it back into the tooth pillow along with two quarters after he was asleep.
3 comments:
I'm kind of overcome by this story, Danny. Tears in my eyes...wow. Lovely.
I'm so glad we're not the only parents who have forgotten the tooth fairy before!! Good cover.
Awww Danny, that Blake is such a sweetie :)
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