The Pumpkin Tooth Fairy

I just came back from hanging with the second graders at my son's school.  It was a blast!  We did pumpkin math.  What's that, you ask?  Well, let me tell you about it.

We took pumpkins, weighed them. measured them, gutted them, counted their seeds, and turned them into jack-o-lanterns.  And guess who did the cutting and gutting?  That's right.  Me!  I had a bunch of squealing kids hanging on me as I immersed myself in pumpkin goo.

"Mrs. Ellis," one little girl said.  "Can you tie my shoe?"

I pulled my hand out of the pumpkin.  It was dripping with seeds and goo.  "Sure, if you don't mind a little pumpkin goo on your shoe."

She didn't mind.  And she gave me a great big pumpkin goo hug when I was done (which reminds me - I got a lot of pumpkin goo hugs, so I need to change my shirt!).

Anyway, I decided to get a little creative when I carved one of the pumpkins.  I gave that thing a loose tooth.  The kids loved it! 

"Is he going to lose his tooth?"  one kid asked.

"Maybe," I said.

A rather rowdy girl decided to take matters into her hands.  She came up to the jack-o-lantern and yanked the tooth right out of its mouth.  "There," she said.  "Now the pumpkin tooth fairy has to come."

All right then.  So, ladies and gentleman, I now have a pumpkin tooth sitting in a ziploc bag, waiting to be picked up by the pumpkin tooth fairy tonight.  Any guesses on what that fairy might leave?  (I'm thinking chocolate!)