Tooth Fairy Inflation

When I arrived to pick up The Little One from school on Friday evening she delighted in showing me she had a loose tooth. A very loose tooth. How this thing went from being rather solid to practically blowing in the breeze in 9 short hours is beyond me.

Of course, she couldn't keep her fingers and tongue off it all evening. Out of the many experiences of being a young kid, that's one I remember vividly. It seemed nearly impossible not to play with that loose tooth and after it was gone, my tongue seemed bent on some primitive mission to keep fiddling with that new hole.

Flash forward to Sunday morning; 2 a.m. A tiny hand pushes my shoulder in that five-year-old-I-have-something-to-say-and-your-sleep-is-of-no-importance shove. "Daddy! Daddy! My tooth came out." It appears her night-time teeth grinding serves a purpose after all. I'm just glad she didn't swallow it.

Consequently, last night, Mrs. B set up the little tooth for the Tooth Fairy wherein I learned the going rate is $5. Holy crap is inflation that bad? I made a dime and was jealous of my friends making a quarter. Has inflation increased 50 times in the past 35 years of so? I guess so.

But then, my parents shared a car and my dad would never dream of eating lunch out every day during work and would convulse at the thought of buying a $2 coffee nearly every day like I do. I guess we can afford it.

So the Little One has a cute little gap-toothed smile that will soon be filled in by no-doubt crooked and too big teeth which will require braces in 6 or 7 years. So I have that to look forward to.

Oh. And my parents response when I thought I needed braces (not badly, but my friends all had them)? "You're a boy. You're teeth are fine." What the HELL is that supposed to mean?