To Tooth Fairy or Not to Tooth Fairy

So, Olivia got her first loose tooth a month back which got us thinking about what we were going to do about the Tooth Fairy. Should we go all out with gifts and money and a homemade tooth fairy dwelling or not even mention what's her name? Or would it be best to just fall somewhere in between the two extremes? In my opinion, parenting is hard enough without all these holiday characters interfering and telling you how to celebrate traditions. But in the same breath I like some of the traditions, to an extent. And I guess that's the point isn't it, to figure out to what extent, if at all, we will take it in our own home.

My biggest gripe with any holiday tradition is how expensive and out of hand it can get. Since when did kids start getting $5 for a tooth? I got a couple of coins and yes I understand inflation and all that, but seriously $5! 

The Loose Tooth

Can you see that she's been crying? She was a little worried by the thought of her tooth coming out and really just overwhelmed and excited about the whole prospect.

The Lost Tooth

Well the day finally arrived and she lost her tooth. Or rather she yanked it out! It was while we were eating pizza for dinner. Which is ironic because we were eating (burritos) when it came loose in the first place. She took a bite and it really jarred it. It was hanging by a string and we convinced her to go ahead and pull it out so she wouldn't swallow it. She never ceases to amaze me with how brave she can be. She grabbed that little tooth and gave a good tug and out it came. What a girl!

All the commotion died down and she went to bed with her tooth safely under her pillow. I still didn't know what we were going to do so I sat down at the computer to frantically search for ideas. Nothing I was seeing helped. The ideas were too elaborate and it was too late to start on anything. So I closed the laptop and grabbed my pen and paper and did what I do best. I started writing. 

Here's what we came up with: 

1 quarter for every year of her age (I know some of you are thinking we're being skinflints here but we really didn't want the focus to be on the money at all, but instead the magic).

Then I wrote a letter (poem) written by the tooth fairy to Olivia explaining that her tooth held magic that helped her (the tooth fairy) to appear. Having a hand written letter from the tooth fairy was like gold to this imaginative five year old and worked exactly like I hoped it would.

Now if she would only stop growing. She sure is a cutie, though!