Dooped!

My previous post mentioned some kind of silly notion that I would not allow myself to be fooled by my nine year-old.  I checked his pillow every night and found it one night.  We stuck the money in the pillow, took the tooth and all was fine.  I was not dooped!  

Silly, silly me!  Who did I think I was up against?  I thought I had it all under control until I woke him up for school last week.  I should have known when the boy who usually grunts and groans for 30 minutes sat right up and jumped out of bed as I turned on his bed.  I had it all under control and was walking down the hall until this came out of his mouth:

9 yo: I knew it!

Me: huh?

9 yo: I knew you were the Tooth Fairy! (said as loud as he could so our next-door neighbors AND his brothers could hear)

Me: huh?

9 yo: I lost my tooth last night and didn't tell you and then I put it in my pillow and it's still there.

Me:

9 yo: So you're the Tooth Fairy!

Me: (speechless but managed to come up with the lamest excuse I could) Well maybe you lost your tooth so late she couldn't put you on her schedule that night.

Very lame, but he seemed to have accepted the excuse and didn't mention it again.  It weighed heavily on me though and later I called Steve.  I tell him often he is a joy-sucker, he sucks the joy right out of life.  So of course Steve tells me to let Skye in on the secret.  Tell him about the Tooth Fairy, and while I'm at it tell him about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus!  I called my friend who said, "Tell him if he doesn't believe, he doesn't receive."  My heart sunk, but I knew I was going to have to talk to him.

He came home from school and asked him if I could talk to him.  With a sad heart, I told him I had some good news and some bad news and paused.  He said, "My guinea pig died?"  No.  "My fish died?"  No.  "Did anyone die?"  Well sort of.  I told him he was right about the Tooth Fairy, he got a little grin on his face, and that was the bad news.  The good news is that it's kind of an adult secret and he now is old enough to keep that secret to himself.  He asked me what he should say if someone asks him and I said, "Tell them if they don't believe, they don't receive."  He seemed happy with this and went off.  I was sad but super glad he didn't ask about the Easter Bunny or Santa.

When he does ask, I will simply say, "If you don't believe, you don't receive."  He will get the meaning, and I won't have to tell him the truth.