The Bird Trap and the Tooth Fairy

On the last morning of our road trip to Colorado, we were in the gift shop of a Best Western in Vernal, Utah. They had a bird house for sale at a great price ($11) so I bought it. Casey and his cousins River and Rain were interested in it and Casey asked me what it was.

Mind you, Casey will believe just about anything I tell him so I have gotten very good at keeping a straight face while I tell him some real yarns. This is one of those times.

"Why, its a Bird Trap, son," I said, "See we'll put some nails around this hole here and the birds will fly in and they won't be able to fly out. When the trap becomes full of birds we put the whole thing in the microwave and they pop like popcorn. Then we open this door on the top and pour them into a bowl. They're yummy."

The boys seemed kind of grossed out but they quickly went back to looking at their plastic dinosaur that we'd gotten them.

When we got home and unpacked the car, I just tossed the "bird trap" onto the porch so I could figure out where to hang it later. The following day, Amy saw it and asked Casey where it came from.

"Its Daddy's Bird Trap, mom!" He said enthusiastically, and then he related the whole bit about how it traps birds and we eat them like popcorn. He clearly had completely believed me.

When Amy told me about it later that night after he was asleep I could not help but laugh and laugh and laugh til I was crying. I mean, inside he must think I'm a pretty gross character but he's not only willing to put up with it he still likes me. Its hilarious and kind of sad at the same time.

A few days later, Casey's first tooth fell out. Amy put the tooth in a glass of water next on Casey's bedside table and told him that the Tooth Fairy would come while he was sleeping and replace the tooth with money. I immediately began scheming.

I told Amy that I was going to find a large dead moth or bird or something and put it in the water and say that it was the tooth fairy and that she had drowned in the water. But Amy would have none of it, she said we were going to do this "normal". Okay, fine, so we did. We left him $2, figuring that this would ultimately cost us $40 when all 20 teeth were accounted for.

Casey was SUPER EXCITED the next morning and he repeatedly showed me the 8 quarters. He told me all manner of things he was going to do with the money. But you know what? When he and I drove to church the next day, he announced simply "Dad, I'm going to put my tooth fairy money in the collection plate."

I was surprised and I said "Did your mom suggest that?"

"No" he said. It was his idea. And it was.

And he did.

He's so awesome.