Playing the Fairy

I'm a mom. I need a set of wings. (And some privacy.)

Last night, around midnight, I was enjoying some private time in my bedroom when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet in the hallway.

I did some quick cleaning up, and raced to get to the door before one of my children knocked.

And even though I knew she would be there, when I opened the door and my daughter was standing right in front of it, I almost had a heart attack.

She was beaming and holding something out to me. "Look, Mommy! Look!"

"What is it, Baby Girl?" I asked her.

And she placed the tiny thing in the palm of my hand. "My tooth, Mommy! I lost my first tooth!"

Now, this was an especially momentous occasion for her. Not only is she the very last child in her class to lose her first tooth, but we were having some trouble. Her adult tooth was already coming in but not pushing her baby tooth out. She knew, because the dentist told her, that if she couldn't pull her baby tooth out by herself, she'd have to have it pulled.

Since I had no idea what the going rate for a baby tooth is now-a-days, I told her that we had probably already missed the Tooth Fairy that night, but that we'd put it under her pillow the following night.

Which brings me to my Mission: Impossible tonight. Do you have any idea how hard it is to slide out a baby tooth and slide in a couple of bucks beneath the pillow of a sleeping child?

For Mothers' day my daughter had given me a frame that she had made at school, and a necklace that she had made in art class. My son gave me a handful of toys when he saw that his sister was one-upping him. I know they'll both make me some art in the morning and they are insisting that they take me out for lunch.

But it is these little motherhood moments, like playing tooth fairy, that are the real gifts. I never knew they could mean so much.

If only I had real a magical wand and fairy wings I could fly around bestowing special moments on everyone I love.

I think I'd start with my mom. After all, she passed the wand to me in the first place.