fall out

Yesterday morning Ella rushed into our bedroom and announced that she'd lost her second tooth during the night. And swallowed it. "Will I still get money from the tooth fairy?"

"I think so," I said. "Just leave her a note."

This morning Ella rushed into our bedroom again and held out a brown piece of paper scrawled with yellow crayon. It read:

Dear tooth fary, I swalod my tooth. Love, Ella

I lowered the paper to find Ella staring at me with heavy brows. "I left a note for the tooth fairy and I didn't get any money."

"Strange," I said, as nonchalantly as I could. "Maybe you should put it under your pillow again tonight and see what happens." She took back the note and left the room.

A moment later she was back, hands on hips. "Mom," she declared, "I know who the tooth fairy is, and the tooth fairy is YOU."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Steffi swallowed her tooth, and she did a test and put a secret note under her pillow and she didn't get any money. And I tested YOU and I didn't get any money either."

It was over. I gave up gracefully.

"Well, you figured it out, Ella," I congratulated her. "Just don't go talking about it on the playground. The other kids need to figure it for themselves." Unfortunately for Lauren, who had witnessed the whole thing, Ella had figured it out for her, too.

Post-edit: Today when the subject came up Lauren said matter-of-factly, "Well, the Tooth Fairy heard what Ella said, so she isn't bringing her any money." She shrugged. "You have to believe."