What is the Going Rate for the Tooth Fairy These Days?

At 5½ years old, Big Sister E is right in the middle of wanting to be a grown up ("Tell me again, how much longer until I can drive the car?") and still wanting to be my little girl ("Pick me up! What do you mean I'm too heavy?").

While I look at her each day and can hardly believe how fast the years have flown by, I'm still slightly in denial that she is growing up so quickly. Where did my baby go?

So, at the beginning of April when she casually mentioned that her tooth felt loose, I didn't think all that much of it. You don't loose teeth until elementary school, right? Nah, she must just be imagining it.

And then she walked over and wiggled it right in front of me.

And then, a day or two later, during dinner:

I'm pretty sure I was still in denial.

Two days later, even I had to admit that she was now certainly growing up when the second bottom tooth fell out right along with the first.

Aside from getting over the excitement (hers), the shock (mine) and the grossed-out feelings (also mine), there was another important matter at hand: the Tooth Fairy.

My husband didn't really find the whole issue to be something to worry about, tossing out unhelpful comments such as, "Just stick a dollar under her pillow. What's the deal?" as I shook my head disapprovingly.

It's the Tooth Fairy! Did he not remember the anticipation from childhood and the thrill of waking up and shoving your hand under your pillow the second you remembered that you had lost a tooth the day before? No, a plain dollar just wouldn't do.

After getting more opinions from friends and me drawing inspiration from the silver dollars that I received throughout my own childhood, we finally found a good compromise:

There's something about the Sacagawea Golden Dollar Coin that makes it more special than a traditional paper dollar bill, right? I thought so... until Big Sister E pulled the first one out the following morning and had no idea what it was. Even worse, when I explained it, the result was a somewhat non-impressed reaction.

Am I kidding myself? Is she going to get to school and find that her friends all receive $5 or $10 from the Tooth Fairy and suddenly her gold coins won't cut it?

What is the going rate for the Tooth Fairy (currently, in the past, or in future plans) in your house?


(This is a featured post. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.)