Lessons for the Tooth Fairy

I was busy cleaning up the dining room tonight after our dinner guests left, and since it was nearly bedtime, I sent the kids upstairs to start getting ready for bed.  When I came upstairs, my bedroom and bathroom lights were on, and I found Nick at my dresser, writing something down.  I started to get on his case about not listening to me, not getting ready for bed, that he had an early morning tomorrow.  The lecture started slow, but he started moving and got the message quickly.

I followed him into his room to start getting Madeline moving and noticed that he was putting the Tooth Fairy pillow on his dresser with a note.  The note that he was just writing in my bedroom.  Last night, he lost another tooth, and the Tooth Fairy left him a dollar (first tooth is five, the rest are a buck).  When I saw the note that he was leaving for the Tooth Fairy, I was speechless.

“Thank you for the money, but I don’t need it.”

I asked him why he was giving it back to her.  He said that although he appreciated it a lot, he didn’t need it and she could save it and give it to someone else who needed it more.

For all the eye rolls, the hands on the hips, the attitude, the mouthing off.  It all quickly gets erased by a simple moment like this.  He gets it.  I preach, rather incessantly sometimes, about need vs. want.  About appreciating how lucky we are.  About how it’s important to give back.  To donate to others.  To be selfless.  To think of others.

I just can’t properly explain how inexplicably proud of him I was for this gesture.  This small gesture that means so very much.  What an amazingly awesome kid.

Project 365
August 5, 2010, Photo #139

I had planned to tell you all about this new recipe that hit the table tonight, but for now, just a tease.  The Tooth Fairy story was far more an important one to tell.  And so, even though I don’t post on Friday nights, tomorrow you’ll find out about this Hitipi dish straight from the chefs at Disney.