Tooth #12

Another tooth out in our house. This is Sidge's 3rd. He lost it while JB and I were out on a date. He was eating dinner with Grampa and Grama and the tooth came out. 

(We went grocery shopping together and then went to eat an Ethiopian restaurant (Yum!) about an hour from our house!)

Sidge put the tooth under his pillow, and JB put a dollar there for him, but the truth is, Sidge and Isaac have both gotten too inquisitive to believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy anymore. JB and I had never really discussed allowing our kids to believe in mythological beings. But as they grew, we just kind of let Santa and the Tooth Fairy be a part of our family traditions.

But about a week before Christmas, while the boys were drifting off to sleep, they started drilling JB with questions. Their Daddy is a huge proponent of giving kids the answers they deserve and not sugar-coating the answers. I could get into a whole post on this, but he has strong feelings that part of the reason children leave their childhood faith is because parents and teachers and other adults have not answered their questions the way they deserve to be answered. He wants them to know the truth and know it with real answers, not fluff answers. 

(When JB was in college he had a professor tell him that his goal was to knock the Bible out of the Bible belt. This launched JB into a head-first campaign to learn and study what he believed. He read nearly every apologetic book he could get his hands on and read both sides of the evolution and creationism books into the ground. What emerged was a man who totally understands why he believes what he believes. And he is determined that our children will know this as well. When the boys recently started asking him difficult questions about dinosaurs and creation, he purchased a few more books to make sure he was up-to-date on his "stuff." I have asked him to write a Blog post on this topic, and I am hoping he will do so in the near future.) 

So when the kids started asking about Santa Claus, JB let their questions guide them to their own answer. They surmised themselves that it was a nice idea but not a real one. I knew this finding was imminent as they had started asking me all kinds of questions about Santa Claus that I had put off answering in the preceding weeks.

Sidge came up to me yesterday and said, "Mom, is it okay if I tell Abigail that Santa Claus is not real."

Me: "Who told you he is not real?"

Sidge: "No one. Isaac and I figured it out ourselves."

Me: "Oh. Well, no, don't tell her that. Let her figure it out by herself like you did."

Sidge: "Okay. I had said to her 'Abigail do you think a reindeer could fly?' And she had told me that they could and I was going to correct her."

Me: "No, don't do that. She'll grow up soon enough."

Sidge: "Got it."

I had been hoping I'd get a few more years of Santa-magic out of them. But truly I think the combination of two boys works against them. They discuss things and determine things together. They lay in bed and do all kinds of imagining and figuring out.

Isaac and Sidge rarely fight. (Don't worry -- we have a lot of fighting in our house but usually with the Sidge/Abigail combo. They truly are best buddies and while very different in their interests, share a common love of Legos and Star Wars and movie watching.  I am so glad that they are both boys and that they will have an "Irish Twin brother" for the rest of their life!