tooth fairy

My oldest has had a loose tooth for a few months.
She’s been very worked up about this,
despite coaching from one of her neighborhood friends and
assurances from her parents
(both of whom are over 30) that she’ll survive.
Last night the tooth fell out.

Our daughter was picking through dinner for the soft foods, intermittently
checking that her tooth was still wobbly. Dessert was chocolate covered
pretzels. Since it was
so warm (78°F) yesterday, I popped them in the freezer.

The appeal of two kinds of chocolate overcame any fear factor she had. After
meticulously stripping all the chocolate from the surface, she bit into the
pretzel and
the tooth fell out. I was watching her facial expression the moment it happened:
trepidation at eating something “hard, but not-healthy;” initial fright at the unexpected; tearing up as the realization that it was her tooth; then elation that it wasn’t so bad (her old man was right). She chomped on a cold wash cloth until the bleeding subsided, then called both sets of grandparents.

After bath, she put the tooth in an envelope and wrote a letter to the tooth fairy
advising her of an upcoming birthday party, which coincidentally has
“fairies” as a theme.
The tooth fairy was hoping my daughter would be worn out by the excitement
and go to bed at a decent hour. However, as is typical these days, my daughter
was up late reading. TF is a bit groggy blogging this morning, but promises to
leave some fairy dust (glitter) and a note back next time.

An informal survey of the neighborhood suggests the going rate for a tooth
is $1.

12 thoughts on “tooth fairy”

  1. Talk about inflation. I got a quarter per tooth and was happy to get it. I think I even got a half dollar one time (ooohhh, aahhhhh).

  2. My genes were in collusion- all but one or two of my teeth had to be pulled by the dentist. The roots must have had Kevlar in them or something.

    I still had a baby tooth or two when I started high school.

  3. A buck sounds reasonable, I guess. But yeah, I used to get a quarter, too.

    My cousin (8 years my senior) had to get her wisdom teeth pulled when I was young-ish. I remember making a conscious decision that I would not get my wisdom teeth pulled out because I thought it was gross, so I just willed my teeth to come in straight.

    Strangely enough, I even have an extra wisdom tooth and still no extractions.

    Mind over jawbone!

    Rock!

    🙂

  4. Jill — I’m impressed you were able to out-Jedi your wisdom teeth. I had mine taken out when I was 19. On the X-ray they were pretty curvaceous and I went for the full sensory deprivation: valium, nitrous, and novocaine. Dentistry was still very medieval then.

  5. A buck is reasonable for the first tooth. My first born has had two out by now and got 75 cents for the second. I’m thinking a quarter for each until she learns what the going rate is from her peers. Hopefully, I will try to outsmart her…shouldn’t take until the fourth one comes out!

    I got a dime for mine. And I’m only 37 y/o now!

  6. I think I also got a dime for mine, too. Some of my friends would get sand dollars, which I thought were really cool as a concept.

    I could see the gears turning as my daughter was calculating the amount of remaining money and the price of certain toy products.

  7. My daughter swallowed her tooth today. I went online to find a good tooth fairy letter and found this web site. Still haven’t found a letter.

    I give my kids 2 gold-toned dollars when they loose a tooth. Post Offices give them as change in their stamp machines. I put in a $5 bill and buy one 37cent stamp and out comes 4 gold dollars and change.

  8. Here was Kiersten’s letter to her daughter.

    Dear …. ,

    Wow-a-zow-wow! Another tooth!

    In the land of enchantment, filled with wishes and dreams come true, I look forward to the magic of sunsets. From a cloud I sit on my rose covered swing, knowing that once again at night I will do what I love the most. You see I love collecting teeth. I visited the homes of thousands of other kids last night collecting teeth and yours are always my favorites.

    I don’t normally do this but I wanted you to know that I am delighted to learn of how well you handled swallowing your tooth. (your Mom wrote me a note) You are getting so grown up! You didn’t cry or get even the littlest bit upset. I love visiting children when I hear of such a mature young lady like yourself.

    For this reason, before I left your house I waved my magic wand and sprinkled your tooth pillow with stardust and your tooth appeared in the pillow’s pouch. Wow my magic amazes me sometimes. I am so happy I get to have your beautiful tooth. I

  9. What?! A single greenback?!?! An Eisenhower?! Man, the cost of living is a lot cheaper in Seattle than in L.A.! My brothers both paid up to $5/tooth – and that was 10 years ago! My daughter is only 1, so I have some time before I get there. Fortunately, it sounds like the fairy has reduced prices over the past ten years due to increased competition (she had a monopoly for so long, you know). But I’m sure with rising health costs, it won’t be long until her rates increase again. After all, business is business, even if you’re the tooth fairy.

  10. My kid’s currently okay with a single greenback and a short note in “handwriting” font. (She was starting to notice similarities between the Tooth Fairy’s awful penmanship and her father’s!)

    As with Kiersten’s daughter, the tooth fairy also had to deal with a swallowed tooth and, I must say, handled it well. 🙂

  11. anonymous coward

    My kids get 10$ for their first, last and for the teeth that had to be pulled. They get 5$ for the rest of them. Unfortunately some of the other kids in our neighborhood receive up to 20$ from the Tooth Fairy and this caused a bit of a ruckus

  12. My youngest was repeatedly quizzed my better half until she fessed up that I was TF. They still get $1 per tooth, more for molars. If they have to be manually taken out by a dentist, they owe me $20 or the copay, whichever is less.

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