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A number of people have asked me over the past month or two for an update the Tooth Fairy Lockout. I apologize for going silent on this. The story took some curious turns, which is why I’ve held off on updating this until now.

Here’s a recap: After my son, Vaughn, lost his first tooth this summer, he openly questioned the Tooth Fairy. What I mean is, not the existence of the Tooth Fairy, but the value of her services. Once the tooth came out, he asked me what he might expect in return for putting the tooth under his pillow. He did some digging into the issue of the TF’s current payout. Other kids in his first-grade class came back with mixed reports: Some said they got special coins—a silver dollar or the like—but most said they got a dollar or two or some change.

Vaughn was not impressed. He has developed a habit through his first seven years of collecting things of significance on his desk in his bedroom: rocks that he’s found, a trophy, an expired credit card I left him have because he thought the design was cool. Now Vaughn wanted to know why he shouldn’t include the tooth in his collection—a part of his own body that had been useful to him over the past five-plus years. Especially when all would get in return was a few dollars at best—an ephemeral windfall that might land him some gum, or a Hot Wheel, but then would be gone. I tried talking to him about saving, but the idea that a few dollars today might yield a few more dollars in a few years didn’t do much for him at this point in life.

So he took a stand. He refused to put the tooth under his pillow. “It’s special to me,” he said.

The Tooth Fairy Lockout of 2011 sparked some interesting conversation. But I’ll admit that I also couldn’t resist having some fun with it, and I began to probe the depth of his convictions. We discussed, hypothetically, what kind of prize might convince him to give up the tooth. What if the Tooth Fairy, for example, could bring him, instead of money, a live corn snake as a pet? Or what if the dollar amount got bumped up significantly? He enjoyed these conversations, and I learned some things. Vaughn is sentimental, but more pragmatic than romantic. He has no clue about money yet, but he might have a really strong sense of what’s important to him, and in the end, isn’t that true wealth? Aren’t there lots of people everywhere who have little monetary wealth but are immensely rich in other ways?

Anyway, what happened was this: Ann accidentally threw the tooth away. She was hurriedly sweeping stuff off his desk, and the tooth, encased in plastic, was in the detritus somewhere. We think. There’s no other logical explanation for the tooth’s disappearance.

I got worked up about it and tried to mount a massive search. We spent some time digging around in there, but Vaughn was quick to call it to a halt. He shrugged and looked at me with his expression—eyebrows lifted, mouth set—that says, Well, what can you do?

If you love something, set it free, and all that.

So that seemed to be the end of the Tooth Fairy Lockout of 2011. But then, suddenly, there was another loose tooth, right next to the first one he lost, right in the center on the lower half of his mouth. We were poised to pick things up again where we left off.

We were down at his school, helping a group of other parents to build a new playground. He was hanging out with Ann, playing with the tooth, giving in to the seemingly irresistible urge to wiggle it around, and suddenly it popped out. Vaughn fumbled with it, like someone had tossed him a baseball when he wasn’t expecting it, and it dropped to the ground—and disappeared into a large pile of freshly delivered gravel. He and Ann frantically searched through the stones, but it was gone—the literal needle in the haystack.

Another odd twist, for sure. But this is far from over. Vaughn has still only lost two teeth. We have 18 or so more chances remaining to figure this thing out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.