Four days ago Ben lost another tooth, one of his premolars. While he was excited to lose another tooth, especially as it was a simple & near bloodless self extraction, he wasn't as excited after the event as he has been in the past. In point, one crucial childhood folklore wasn't even mentioned once the tooth was put safely away so it could be easily scooped up & put under his pillow come bedtime.
Fast forward to yesterday when I realized that small, oddly shaped, scrap of eraser was Ben's tooth - still sitting behind the fruit bowl on the bench. Even now it is sitting there. He has not once mentioned the tooth fairy all this time.
I'm a little bit devastated & a whole heap in denial. Surely Ben still believes?
**Little eyes look away now...
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The Santa talk is more intimidating than the puberty or the birds & the bees talk. (I mean with all the children we've had, our kids know at least the basics for each of their ages.) But coming clean about who is responsible for all those gold coins, chocolate eggs & over flowing stockings is daunting & mournful. It's also another step towards recognizing & acknowledging Ben is definitely leaving behind his childhood & beginning to enter a new stage of awareness.
We haven't officially had the 'Talk' yet, holding off because I didn't want to launch into shattering the illusion prematurely, if he (we) had just purely forgotten each night to leave the little bicuspid for the life sized, blonde haired, spectacle wearing tooth fairy. Honestly, I don't even know where to start when breaking the news that it's all a fabrication. All my mind imagines is the resulting broken heart, snuffing out the last sparkles of childhood magic. Because it doesn't just stop with the tooth fairy, no that is just the beginning. After confessing we are her imposter, we stomp on the illusion of the big eared, fluffy, cotton ball tailed, chocolate coma inducing bunny. Before wiping out all wonder & innocence with the declaration that the jolly fellow is all parental fraud. Albeit inspired from Saint Nicholas, which gives us back a little bit of credit.
Nope, I just can't do it yet.
I can still easily recall all the anticipation & excitement I felt the night before Easter or Christmas. Imagining an over sized bunny jumping silently from house to house, straining to hear the bells of a sleigh before drifting off to sleep, of waking up in the middle of the night to my Christmas stocking resting at the end of my bed, feeling very full & heavy when nudged with my toes. I just can't break that illusion with our own children yet.
I know it's coming, if it isn't here already. I would much rather our children, when the time comes for each of them individually (& they will be expected to play along with the myth for many years to come yet) that they find out what the deal is from us, rather than by friends, or cousins in my own personal experience. I want them to hold on to the magic of belief just a little bit longer, because it feels like once that is gone their childhood is over.
Always looking for a silver lining, we still get at least ten more years of creating magic & manifesting the illusion for our younger minions. My days masquerading as the tooth fairy are far from over yet. I have hidden away every single tooth lost so far, though I haven't gone as far as to separate them according to which minion they sprouted from. I have no idea what to do with all these teeth, at the end of it all I'll have a purse full of one hundred & twenty (120!) teeth. Seriously. Multiple Google sources inform me that children loose twenty teeth by the time they reach twelve or thirteen years of age. Multiply that by at least six minions...What on earth am I going to do with one hundred & twenty pearly whites? The first step will be getting a bigger purse - I'm guessing something like a duffel bag should be sufficient. Just another quirk to being a large family, you need an entire wardrobe to hold (& hide) all their baby teeth, the corner of a small draw just won't cut it.
I guess I could make a (plaque) mosaic wall art...a necklace is just to damn grotesque. Or maybe I'll just keep them all hidden away.
**Towards the conclusion of this post, it was confirmed, as best as possible while other siblings were still present, that the tooth fairy is still expected to collect Ben's tooth. She just had a week long holiday, because even the tooth fairy gets a holiday every year.
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