PastorDave will probably not be pleased with me, but barring unforeseen circumstances, I'll be participating in Blog For Choice Day.

On to the next... did I mention Jacob has his first loose tooth? He's over the moon. He showed it to me last week and it is, indeed, very wiggly. I called my mom so he could tell Nana the news, and she asked him if he was going to leave it for the Tooth Fairy. He asked me how much the Tooth Fairy would leave, and I asked my mom the going rate... which she said was a quarter.

My kid believes in the Tooth Fairy, but not that his tooth is only worth a measly quarter.

DH's family had a tradition where they would leave a note for the Tooth Fairy and ask for something. He remembers asking for a "gem," and was left a fancy marble, which he cherished for a long time. DH wants us to do that with our kids. I like the concept, but I'm skeptical; when I mentioned it to Jacob, he sort of made a face at the marble story. He said he'd ask for a light saber.

"The Tooth Fairy won't bring you something that your mom and dad don't want you to have," I said. Sorry, Jake. (I'll get into the whole psychological experiment we inadvertently did by allowing the kids to watch Star Wars in another post.)

So that night, Jacob came skidding back to my room while he struggled into his pajamas.

"Mommy, how does the Tooth Fairy know to come?"

"We have to make an appointment," I said.

"So I'll know what night she's coming and I can wait up for her?"

"Nooo," I said. "She won't come if you're awake."

"How do you make an appointment?"

"I call her secretary," I said. "The Tooth Fairy could be anywhere in the world, so she can't just come like that."

"You call her secretary?"

"Yep," I said. "I let her know that your tooth is loose, and they look you up in their database and compute when it will fall out, and then set an appointment for the Tooth Fairy to come that night. It's very complicated."

"How did you get the Tooth Fairy's number, then?"

"Oh, they give you that when you have a baby. We got it in the hospital -- there were all these forms to fill out, and that was one of them. Ya know, birth certificate, social security number, immunizations, Tooth Fairy. We had to sign saying we'd never give out the number. And when people adopt a baby, they get the same form when they do the adoption papers."

"Wow. So you called the Tooth Fairy already?"

"Daddy and I will do it tonight, after you go to sleep."

Jacob stood there a minute -- over four feet tall, in his crazy flannel footie pajamas, pondering the mysteries of the Tooth Fairy. And I thanked G-d that we had one way to keep a little magic, however silly, in his world.