Another Loss

Audrey lost her right front tooth last night. Well, sort of. She was messing around with the already extremely loose tooth and it started to bleed but didn't fall out. It bleed all afternoon and finally stopped. Only it started again after dinner. I told her it was time for it to come out (It was hanging by a thread anyway). So I put a TON of anbesol on it, and even though she claimed she could still feel it Jay yanked it out of her mouth. She was upset for only a minute and only because she thought it didn't work.
So last night while she was sleeping the "Tooth Fairy" came again and replaced her tooth with a dollar.
This morning she said to me, "Are you the tooth fairy mom?"
I said, "No, why?"
"Because I saw you take my tooth out from under my pillow last night."
Glup.
"No, I didn't do that."
"I thought I saw you do it."
"Nope. Sorry."
"Well, I guess I must have dreamed it."
"Probably."
"Mom...(pause) Are Santa and the Tooth Fairy REAL?"
"What do you think?"
"Because my friends Sonia and Alex say that Santa and the Tooth Fairy are not real. That it's your parents that do all that stuff."
"Oh."
"They say that only Santa's Spirit is real."
"Huh."
"They say that the real Santa died sometime in the eighties."


Lots and lots of laughter.

"Which eighties?"
"The Nineteen Eighty Sevens, or the Eight Hundreds. I can't remember."
"Oh."

She runs out of the room.
And so on the eve of Christmas eve Santa is tested.
I hope our Santa Spirit is up to the task.