We Have No Holiday Armadillo, Though

So the kiddo woke me with a bad dream and now I'm the one awake. I suppose it's just as well, since he left a tooth and a note (in lieu of another tooth that he swallowed) under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy, and I'd fallen asleep before, er, letting her in. Now the kiddo is fast asleep and I'll be tiptoeing into the bedroom to leave some money while trying to keep the dogs from following me with their loud, jangly tags and insane panting and relentless leaping onto the bed.

Speaking of mythical and magical creatures (the Tooth Fairy - NOT my smelly, earthy and earthly dogs), Santa still visits our house each year. Santa doesn't really visit the kiddo's dad's house, and pretty much never did; Daddy said he didn't want to "lie" to the kiddo, so Daddy gets credit for all the presents there. I remember one year the kiddo came back to my house on Christmas morning and was indignant to find that while Daddy had brought him a bunch of gifts at the other house, and Santa had brought him a bunch of gifts at our house, Mommy had brought him nothing at all! And this was a year in which I'd scrounged for bargains all over Craigslist and the county so we could have Christmas. Ah, well, it gives me a funny story to tell him later.

My mom, practical in the extreme, is of the opinion that I should educate my boy on the Santa issue, but I think by Christmas 2009 he'll have the whole thing figured out. He's already asked me about Santa's existence a few times: "Mom, is Santa Claus real, or is he a myth?" I've put the question back to him, and he's said he thinks Santa does exist. Then he asked me if the Tooth Fairy is real. Same process and outcome. He asked what the Tooth Fairy does with all those teeth; I told him I wasn't sure, but there's a rumor going around that she uses them to keep building onto her palace. (Methinks the Tooth Fairy might have a touch of Winchester-itis.) He thought about this, then asked if there was also a rumor going around that one's parents really put money under pillows in exchange for teeth. I asked him his opinion, and he said he thought the Tooth Fairy did it. Oh, okay.

Like I said, I think he'll figure everything out on his own, and I see no pressing reason to expedite the process. He'll be a kid only once, and he should be able to enjoy the myths that go with childhood. My mom felt the need to break the news about Santa to my sister when she was little, and although at the time Sis acted as though she'd known all along, she says she remembers feeling kind of crushed. I'm definitely not going to put my son through that. Let him enjoy his innocence. Let him have his fun.

Let him believe.