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Given the fact that Madeline is still at least a year or two away from losing a tooth, I hadn’t really given a lot of thought as to whether or not we would “do” the Tooth Fairy at our house. I’m not really big on pretending various people or animals visit one’s house for holidays, but the tooth fairy seems like an easy one to do with a “wink and a nod” so to speak and have a lot of fun with it.

Then while I was at the mall with the kids a week or so ago, Madeline spotted a woman wearing a pretty dress and a pageant-esque banner reading “the tooth fairy.” There was a whole display promoting dental health, including said Tooth Fairy handing out small white bags for teeth. After explaining to Madeline the whole concept of losing one’s baby teeth and expecting that maybe the tooth fairy would exchange them for small coins (which didn’t really phase her, surprisingly enough, despite how odd that must seem to her that her teeth will all fall out in a couple years), I thought maybe she would lose interest until she could herself perhaps be visited by the tooth fairy.

Then, she managed to meet another tooth fairy less than a week later at the Children’s Museum. This tooth fairy was giving out not just one, but two different boxes for storing lost baby teeth! And Madeline got to make a “tooth fairy wand” too.

At first Madeline seemed to have gotten a little bit confused, and referred to the taker-of-teeth as the “Fairy Tooth Mother.” We  got that all straightened out, and Madeline has been talking about the tooth fairy nearly every day since. In the past few days she has mentioned “playing tooth fairy” several times, but tonight was the first time we had all-out pretend play about the tooth fairy.

Here’s how it went: Madeline wanted to be the tooth fairy first, and as we set the stage, she let me know that the kitchen is the mall — because the tooth fairy lives there, you know? She had several other important instructions to give: You have to go and get your tooth box from the tooth fairy at the mall, then you can go home and lose a tooth…then you can call the tooth fairy on her cell phone, and let her know you need a pick up. Then the tooth fairy comes with her easter basket filled with play money. She’ll take your tooth box and give you money in return. But don’t forget to go back to the mall to get your tooth box back before you need to lose another tooth.