The gig is up...

A couple of weekends ago, when Ken and Ainsley were down at the coast for their Y Princess weekend away, Matthew and I were shooting hoops in the driveway while Amelia was napping. 

"Mom, is the tooth fairy real??"

He sort of surprised me... he hasn't lost a tooth of late, so this was kind of out of nowhere. Once I started thinking back though, I remembered overhearing him and Jackson on the way to school one morning, comparing Easter Bunny notes... that was probably the catalyst.

"What do you think, sweetie?"  I responded.  I grabbed my basketball and sat on it, waiting to hear what he said.

"Well - I think it's you and Daddy."

I had a tiny smile and sort of cocked my head as I whispered back "yeah, it is."

It wasn't this big AHA or I KNEW IT thing from him - he was almost sad.  Like that whole era of believing in stuff like that was over or something.  I sensed it immediately, and tried to put him at ease...

"Here's the thing though Mattie - it's not so much about if she is real or not real - it's the magic and the surprise that is the bigger part of the tooth fairy.  It's ok to want, and believe in - the magic.  There aren't a lot of things that are just purely fun and magical as you get older - so hang on to that!"

He smiled, and then stood up - and turned to me and said "I still think she tells you what to write in the notes that are under our pillow... and don't worry - I'll make sure Ainsley and Amelia don't find out..."

I have no idea if he really means what he said about the notes, or if that was his way of showing me that he is capable of believing in not so real things... but whatever.  The unveiling of the tooth fairy (and by proxy - the rest of the nighttime visitors, I am guessing) went far better than I ever imagined it would.