The Age of Not Believing

G has a tooth that is ridiculously loose.  "Tie a string to a doorknob" loose.  "Get the wrench!" loose.

The grown up tooth (which looks so strange to me in his mouth!) is out and there and the other tooth is barely holding on.  He's one good bite into an apple from the tooth fairy.

This whimsical lady is the subject of much debate among the 1st graders.  And our friend (who has an older sister) told G one day that fairies are not real and therefore, the tooth fairy is not real either.  And this makes perfect logical sense to G.  Because fairies are, in fact, fiction so the tooth fairy is fiction too.

So when G tells me this my jaw kinda drops and I'm gobsmacked (because I won't lie when straight up asked).  So I deflect ... "Well who leaves the money."  He thinks a bit.

"I guess you do."  And he smiles and I can see he's about twenty seconds from asking me for the $10 his friend got for a single tooth.

But beyond that my nerves get going because December is right there, right around the corner.  And I'm petrified that it's the end.  I mean forget that I didn't even get to do the tooth fairy bit.  What's going to happen to Christmas?

I won't lie.  Won't.  I've never said a man comes down the chimney and leaves gifts and when it's come up I go the "spirit of Christmas" route.  But if he asks me point blank I think I'll just puddle.

Now is a good time to tell you that I believed in some form of Santa and didn't figure out it was my parents leaving gifts until I was near 12 years old.  So him getting wise to all this at six years old  feels all sorts of wrong to me.  I only get 2 good Christmas years?  That's it??  I mean no fair.  I really want to pout and stomp my feet over the whole thing.

But with school and friends and with first graders being so much more mature there's just no shot.  Plus my first born is so literal and analytical and logical.  A fairy flying in his window made absolutely no sense to him.

His dad, for his part, thinks it's just about the right time.  Well no it is not!  I demand a redo.