i fired the tooth fairy

Evan lost his third tooth this week. We were play-wrestling [READ: mommy was trying to snag a hug] one day after school and he yelled, "Stop!", stood up, and spit his tooth out. Now his tooth was loose, but this still was kind of a shock for me.

The night he lost it, we both completely forgot to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy. So on Thursday night, I made a point of remembering to put it in the pocket of the little tooth pillow my mom made him and placing it alongside of his pillow after I kissed him goodnight.

Fast forward to the boys' 6:45 a.m. wake-up call.

Evan, who is normally as hard to wake as a hibernating bear, pops up from his pillow to check his tooth pillow. And....the. tooth. is. still. there.

Mommy, who is normally not quick on her feet, literally or figuratively, declares, "That's IT! I'm calling the tooth fairy! I can't believe she FORGOT to take your tooth! I'm going downstairs to call her right now and telling her she's fired!!"

I took the tooth pillow downstairs, pretended to make a phone call, and switched out the tooth for DOUBLE the monetary gift [READ: guilt offering].

I returned the tooth pillow to Evan and told him the tooth fairy was fired. Not sure if he totally bought it, but he smiled.

Crisis averted.

What will we do upon the next lost tooth?

Hire a new tooth fairy, of course.

She better tie a string around her finger or set her Blackberry alarm or something...