By the skin of my teeth

My daughter lost another tooth Saturday night. We made a big fuss, of course, but then--the Tooth Fairy got busy.

Sunday morning, I was grateful that my husband got up with my son and was just falling asleep again when it occured to me that the TF had not made the swap.

So I bolted out of bed, found the funds and made it to her room just in time. As I slid my hand under her pillow, she opened her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

My quick, lame response was that her covers had been covering her head and I wanted to make sure we hadn't lost her!

She nodded like that made perfect sense. (Luckily for me she was still half-asleep!)

I walked out, realizing that I'd left the tooth where it was. (The Tooth Fairy usually absconds with them!) It has been almost a year since she questioned the TF's existence, so I was sure that my latest mistake would bring back the doubt.

Instead, it restored her faith.

"She got it! She read it! She let me keep it!"

"What?" (It was my turn to sound half-awake).

"Look! The Tooth Fairy left my tooth, just like I asked!"

"You left a note?"

"Yep! After you tucked me in last night, before I turned the light off, I wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy, asking if she could leave the tooth--and she did!"

She left a note after we'd said goodnight--knowing I either would not look or would not see it in the dark. She's good!

I am not. (Someone is! I don't know whether to thank my Guardian Angel or hers but someone got me out of bed just in time--but without enough time to steal that tooth!)