“There’s No Such Thing As The Tooth Fairy.”

[Dutch Lock Down Day Four Hundred Sixty Three]

This past Christmas, First Minion looked at us and, with absolute conviction, said, “There’s no such thing as Santa Claus. It’s just you and Papa.”

Me: “….what.”

First Minion: “My friend told me her Mama told her.”

Me: “…which friend?”

First Minion: “[Adorable Best Friend]”

Me: “Ah.”

First Minion: “Also, the tooth fairy is you two, too.”

Me: “Is it?”

First Minion: “Yes!”

Me: “Ah.”

Needless to say, we didn’t navigate it very well, but convinced First Minion that we needed to keep the magic alive for the twins and he played along well enough.

Yesterday First Minion lost his first tooth.

And it went just as poorly as you’d expect.

But first the news:

• Coronavirus in the Netherlands: what changes from June 26
• Netherlands among countries emerging most strongly from the crisis, Dutch PM says
• Netherlands opens up: Major set of Covid restrictions dropped today

This tooth has been loose for WEEKS and as tempted as I was to just reach in and rip it out, I was seriously not sure how we’d deal with the whole “There’s No Such Thing As The Tooth Fairy” thing – do we just not flip the tooth? Do we flip the tooth for a coin and deny everything?

Something else?

I assumed P would take care of it, but last night was Friday night which meant he went out (ah, the benefits of being vaccinated!) and completely forgot when he got home and, well, I also completely forgot.

But!

In anticipation of the tooth falling out, he had gone out and grabbed a pack of pokemon cards from the local toystore, ready to slip under the pillow “from the tooth fairy”.

So this morning we’re woken up by First Minion crying.

It is my morning to rise with the kids, so I grab my things and head down to figure out why.

First Minion: “The tooth is still here! There’s no coin!”

Me: “….”

Papa figuring things out ahead of me, comes downstairs: “Oh, First Minion, we forgot to leave your window open! The tooth fairy couldn’t get in! And we have a cat! I wonder if Zoe blocked the tooth fairy’s entrance. I’ll go look downstairs!”

Papa runs downstairs and sets the cards outside the door.

Papa: “First Minion! Come look!”

First Minion: “…sniff….”

Of course, there are cards and they must be from the tooth fairy and it’s amazing, but … we still have a tooth.

Papa: “Oh, we can’t just take the cards – we have to leave your tooth in its place. Don’t make the tooth fairy mad.”

First Minion grabs his tooth and replaces the cards with the tooth and then goes to play with all the pokemon cards. I get the twins dressed and bring them downstairs.

Papa: “Mama, is the tooth still there?”

I go to the backdoor, pick up the tooth and hide it.

Me: “First Minion, where is your tooth? Where did you put it?”

First Minion, running over to the door: “Right there. Right … OMG!”

Me: “…”

First Minion: “THE TOOTH FAIRY IS REAL!! ! I PUT THE TOOTH THERE AND NOW IT’S GONE.”

That’s right, First Minion.

The tooth fairy may JUST be Papa and I, but magic is still real.