I am one of “those moms.”  When I can, I use both Santa and the tooth fairy to get my kids to bed early. Bedtime in our house usually takes up to 45 minutes. Both boys get stories read to them after brushing their teeth and going potty. Before that, they expect sillies. I’m actually surprised bedtime doesn’t take longer. (And, in truth, sometimes, it does.)

So, when I get the opportunity to get them in bed quickly, I take full advantage of it. Jacob lost tooth number three yesterday.

When bed time rolled around last night, I played the “The tooth fairy won’t come until you are both asleep” card with absolutely no guilt. And, it worked. Jacob didn’t even want a bedtime story. He said to me, “I have to go to sleep right away!  I don’t have time for a story!” Christopher heard that and ran to his room. He jumped into his bed, squeezed his eyes shut and yelled out, “I’m asleep, tooth fairy! You can come see Jacob now but you have to come through my window first!”

Both boys were all settled in bed, Jim and I downstairs getting ready to relax when we hear Jacob cry out, “Daddy! I lost my tooth! Oh no! Help me!”

We went running upstairs to find out what happened. Jacob tends to sleep on his tummy with his hands under his pillow and he knocked his tooth onto the floor. Luckily, we found it in just a few minutes. We sealed it in an envelope and decided to put it in his pillow case instead of under the pillow. All was good and all went as planned; I snuck in after ten o’clock and switched out the tooth for a dollar.

This morning, Christopher was the first to wake. He came running downstairs and said, “Mama, Daddy! I heard the tooth fairy come through my window last night! I didn’t see her but I gave her a sleep high five!”   About 15 minutes later, I heard Jacob stirring so I went up to check on him. Now, Christopher is my morning boy… Jacob is all Bailey when it comes to sleep. He wants nothing to do with anyone when he first wakes. But, it only took him a moment to remember that he had something to be excited about. He looked at me, all crinkled brow when I first walked in and then the light bulb went off. He jumped up and reached into his pillow and pulled out his dollar. He was totally jazzed. He couldn’t wait to get to school to tell his teacher.

I may have created a bit of a monster, though. Christopher kept walking around all day checking to see if he has loose teeth, telling me, “Mama, if I lose a tooth like Jacob, the tooth fairy can come again tonight!” And, when Jacob got home from school, he chewed off a finger nail and exclaimed, “Mommy! Now the finger nail fairy will come tonight and leave me another dollar!”  I might be in trouble here…