Right before Andrew turned 6 he discovered he had a loose tooth.

He was obsessed with everyone else in his class losing their teeth. Everyday he would come home with an update and his desperation was clear.

“Nicholas has lost two teeth.”…..”Everett has a loose tooth and he already lost one.”…….. “Mavi lost a tooth last week and she’s only 5. I’m almost 6 and haven’t lost one.”

Roughly five times a day we would receive updates on his loose tooth.

“Still wiggly” ….”not out yet”……. “I can move it with my tongue”

I was ready to yank the tooth out but he refused all offers of help. Even when he stubbornly went to school with a kleenex stuck to his bleeding tooth he still refused assistance.

The morning after the kleenex incident Andrew came running downstairs. “I lost my tooth! I lost my tooth!”

Where is it?

“I don’t know?”

We searched his bed high and low and never discovered the tooth. We determined he must have swallowed it while sleeping. When told the tooth was gone, a look of horror came over Andrew’s face. You could see the wheels turning in his head, “I have waited almost 6 years to lose a tooth, earn some cash, and now I’ve lost it all.”

So…he wrote a note, with some help, to the tooth fairy. He put it under his pillow and prayed for her sympathy.

Turns out the tooth fairy provides generously despite the lack of a tooth. He found $2 and a new book under his pillow the next morning.