Tripped up by the tooth fairy

I'm all too aware of my many failings as a mother but now even the blasted tooth fairy is out to get me.

The nine-year-old lost a tooth and announced he was putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Now he and I both know, but neither of us acknowledge, that he hasn't believed in the existence of said fairy for some time. The little blighter is rather too canny for my liking and is just after the £1 he knows he'll find there in the morning.

I really meant to sneak in, rummage under his pillow for the tooth and deposit the pound - but I was dog tired and forgot. I did manage to wriggle out of it in the morning with a story about it being too windy for the tooth fairy and that she'd been grounded by air traffic control. Nifty thinking for 7.30am I thought.....

Unfortunately the blessed tooth went clean out of my head until the son marched in two days later with an envelope, containing the tooth, which he slapped down on my bedside table before huffing loudly and stomping out.

On it he'd written in big letters 'Tooth fairy (Mum) PLEASE take this and don't forget again'.