The Tooth Fairy is a Ditz

The tooth fairy is darned unpredictable. Sometimes she picks up the teeth. Sometimes she forgets. Sometimes she leaves a quarter. Sometimes five dollars. As fairies go, she's pretty second rate.

My friend Janice had a great idea for covering for her when she forgets; she throws money under the bed and asks the kids if maybe they knocked it out of the bed during the night.

The weather this week turned nice and my daughter has been outside building a home for fairies.

She's been using bricks.

She asked if a fairy would like sticks or bricks better. I had to admit that bricks would come in pretty handy in case of a big bad wolf.

She's been making beds out of nut shells and scraps of cloth. Tables out of bottle caps. And she's using a shot glass as a combination dish washing, water well. A tiny My Little Pony cup is the main utensil.

The first night she created her home she added an orange and some raisins. I told her fairies only eat natural food like nuts, berries and fruits. One of my smarter moves.

Then for the piece d'resistance, she dusted it with sparkles to show the fairies the way. A very clever way to advertise the place to fairies flying overhead.

The next day the roof was off and the orange and water gone. My daughter is pretty sure she's got a female fairy who lives there now. Or perhaps a whole fairy family.

I'm thankful for her sweet, bright imagination--and the backyard opossum I never caught this winter.