Spoiler Alert--no one under the age of 18 allowed

Children, they grow up way too fast. Especially your own. David, I think, grew up too fast and is now reliving his childhood through our kids. Yes, the youngest still talks Santa, Easter Bunny and the ultimate source of wealth, the tooth fairy.

She's lost all her front teeth and is now working on those side ones. Ever diligent about wiggling, asking if it's loose enough and plotting how much she will get with each ivory tusk under her pillow. This week is no different. Sitting at the table eating breakfast, she bits and it comes out. Ah what more do you need when you are running the usual late in the morning but a stop in the action for blood, gauze and toothless smiles?

Venture with me to the duck bathroom. For those of you who know the Ms, there is a post-it note on the mirror, with a up to date tally of how many rubber duckies she's got in there. This does not include the towels, floor mats, bath accessories, just rubber duckies-right now it's at 104 plus 6 penguins and 4 frogs. So she's standing at the sink, rinsing off the tooth and it gentle rolls......off her hand, down the drain. "Crap" I do believe is the word that David heard, jogs over to see what happened and gets a glare from the Ms as she is staring down the drain.

"What happened?"
"Rolled down the drain."
"Huh."
"You know, the tooth fairy will come tonight, find it in the drain and leave my money on the counter."
"Problem with that?"
"Yeah, then Alec will get up before me and walk in, see money on the counter and take it, that's the problem."
(Heehee-David chuckles under his breath, and you all know just the tone at which the Ms said the above.)

"Okay, don't panic, I'll get the wrench and get it out of the drain, just don't turn on any water in the meantime."

So tooth is recovered from said drain and safely placed on dresser, waiting to be placed under said pillow and exchanged for riches overnight. Or so we thought.

Per David in the morning:

"And, this tooth thing just keeps getting better!! I went in to wake her this morn. I reached under her pillow as I nudged her awake. I felt the tooth and replaced it with a dollar. With tooth in pocket, my work was done and walked out."

Some time later Meredith comes up all excited that the tooth fairy had been there. She left a "down payment" on her tooth.

I asked, "what did you mean?"
She said, " There was a dollar under her pillow."
"So she took the tooth?"
Meredith said, "No, I left the tooth on the dresser. I guess she plans to come back when she has enough money."

Then she walked away with her reduced tooth smile and jingle in her pocket. I immediately checked to see what was in my pocket, "Rats!!!" I was duped!!!! I had part of a small pebble in my pocket instead of a tooth. I can only imagine where this goes from here.

Saga continues as last night, David went in to her room while she was downstairs doing her dog chores and made damn sure that there were no more Maltese Tooth's under the pillow. See the kid has a thing about collecting rocks-I find them all over. And yes, success, as the "tooth fairy" flitted in and retrieved the arrent tooth, replacing it with wealth untold.

You know, I'm relishing every moment of my second childhood.

Later gators.....
C