What DOES she do with them?

Bubba lost his second tooth today at school. He lost his first while we were camping in St. Augustine this summer. When he bit into a non-quite-melted s'more, the tooth stayed with his s'more when he swallowed. He was a little worried at first but then remembered his friend John Thomas' experience -- the tooth fairy went down inside John Thomas' stomach and got his tooth when he swallowed it!

I told Bubba at the time that it was more likely that the Tooth Fairy had a TPS --a tooth positioning system -- and would know he had lost a tooth even though it wasn't under his pillow. Because we were camping, the Tooth Fairy only had a five dollar bill, which thrilled Bubba to no end.

On the way home tonight, I was giving Bubba a heads up that the tooth fairy probably wouldn't be quite so generous this time. I explained that the first tooth was special and that's why he had gotten five dollars.

"What is the Tooth Fairy?" Punkin asked from the back seat.

"Well, she's a fairy that comes and get your teeth and gives you money for them," I explained.

"When you lose them?" she asked, a slight note of panic in her voice.

"Of course!! She doesn't come and take them out of your mouth," I reassured her.

"What does she do with them?" she asked, sounding kind of disgusted. Given my own squickiness about teeth, I can't say I blame her.

"Well, you know, I'm not really sure," I said. "I never really thought about it. That's a good question."

"Maybe she gives them to babies," Bubba suggested. "You know, 'cause they don't have any teeth."

"That's a great suggestion, Bubba," I said. "Yeah, let's go with that."

Yeah, let's go with that. Even though the thought of "used teeth" kind of weirds me out, the thought of a big pile of teeth in the Tooth Fairy's back yard is just plain disgusting.