The Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy came to our house this week for the second time. In the life of an almost-seven year old, this is big stuff. Huge, even. Carl's first tooth fairy visit was prompted by a visit to the dentist to remove an infected tooth that had been knocked a few years ago. He was fine with that and enjoyed having the tooth fairy come, but this time, the tooth fell out on its own natural time table. It had been wiggly for weeks but he finally gave it the necessary twist this week while playing in his kid-fitness class at the local YMCA. At bedtime, Carl remembered to get a glass of water and drop his tooth in the bottom.

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You see, there are several different kinds of tooth fairy experiences. Growing up, my mom always made a little pillow with a teeny pocket where you lovingly placed your tooth at bedtime. In the morning, there was a small coin stuffed in the teeny pocket. At our house, we drop the tooth in a glass of water and in the morning, the tooth is gone, but the water has turned a different color. Depending on the color fairy that visits, the fairy dust from their wings tints the color of the water. Last time, she was green. This time, purple.

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P.S. To answer some of your questions: The tooth fairy still leaves a financial gift, but I think most of the excitement comes from the water changing colors. The first tooth garnered a golden dollar coin and the subsequent teeth are fetching a whopping 25 cents. Hey, his allowance is 50 cents a week, so he thinks this is a great deal. Half of his allowance, for a tooth!
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I thought the idea of fairy had come from my sister, who is a first grade teacher, but she seemed surprised by the story when I mentioned it last week. So, I'm not sure where this fairy dust idea came from. I still love the pillow idea, but since we celebrated the fairies, tomptes and elves at Grandma camp this summer (see a July-ish posting!), we were hoping that the tooth fairy would do some magical things with her fairy dust.