"Can you please stop that?" Amy asked her daughter.
The five-year-old continued to play with her front tooth with her tongue, as she had been for the past week since discovering it was loose. "It feels funny. When do you think it will fall out? If I put it under my pillow, the tooth fairy comes."
"What does dad say when he sees you playing with it?"
"To not to and that it will fall out when it's ready," she answered.
"Here," the neurobiologist handed the girl a stack of cupcake liners. "Put these in the pan, I think the batter is mixed enough."
Placing a liner in each section of the pan in front of her, Katie looked at her mother, "Do you think daddy, and Max and Leo are going to be surprised we made cupcakes?"
"I think everyone is going to love them at dinner tonight," she helped the her daughter scoop batter into each liner. "I think I heard dad's car outside. Do you want to tell him what we're doing?"
Katie ran to meet her father and brothers at the front door. "We're making cupcakes! Chocolate ones cuz chocolate is the best. I saved you a mixer to lick, Leo."
"Sounds yummy," Sheldon smiled at his daughter. "Let's go see if they're ready."
Enjoying one of the cupcakes she made after dinner, Katie made a face, which Penny noticed, "What's wrong, Katie? Your cupcakes are delicious."
"My tooth," she answered while spitting her mouthful of chocolate cupcake onto the plate in front of her. "It came out."
Rory, who had been sitting next to his best friend, immediately leaned over, "I wanna see," prompting Katie to give the room a toothless grin, pulling down her bottom lip to give everyone a better view.
Katie poked through the chewed cupcake, trying to find her tooth. "I don't see it. What if I ate it and didn't know it?"
"I'm sure it's there," Amy reached for the plate and moved the half-eaten cupcake around with her fork, attempting to locate the tooth. "I think I found it. Is that it?"
"You found my tooth! Can I put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy?"
"It's covered in chocolate, Katie Beth," Sheldon replied. "It needs to be cleaned off first. The tooth fairy doesn't like chocolatey teeth." Seeing his daughter reach for the tooth off the plate, he stopped her. "I'll help you after we clean up dinner. I don't want you to drop it down the sink. The tooth fairy doesn't want to take apart the sink to find it."
After their friends left at the end of Thai food night, Sheldon helped his daughter clean the dessert from her tooth to place it under her pillow. "Mommy said it needs to go in the special tooth fairy box. Max used it when he was little and now it's my turn."
"That's right. I think it's on the shelf in your room where mommy put it when you showed us your tooth was loose. Can you reach it or do you need help?" Sheldon followed her to her bedroom.
"I got it, daddy," the girl pulled a chair over and proceeded to stand on it to reach the small box from where Amy had placed it the week before. She held the small box close to her while climbing down. "Can I put my tooth in?" Sheldon passed her the tiny tooth, which she carefully placed in the box and closed. "Now it needs to go under my pillow."
Sheldon looked between the girl's bed and her nightstand. "Why don't you put it on your nightstand? It will be easier for the tooth fairy to get to. Also, it will probably be uncomfortable to sleep with the box under your pillow."
"But it's supposed to be under my pillow for the tooth fairy to find it," Katie protested.
"What if we write a note for the tooth fairy, telling her your tooth is in the box on your nightstand?" Sheldon quickly suggested.
Katie thought for a moment, "Okay, but can we make it pretty? I don't want it to be paper from your notebook."
Sighing, the physicist agreed, "Maybe mom can help with the note."
Once Katie and Leo were in bed and asleep for the night, Amy dug through her top dresser drawer, finally finding a pouch tucked in the back, where no one knew it existed. Opening the envelope, she removed a few gold dollar coins. "I'll be right back. Gotta go play tooth fairy," she said, approaching the door.
"Wait," Sheldon stopped her in her tracks. "I want to do it." Chuckling at her husband, Amy handed him the coins in her hand. "Do I just remove her tooth from the box and put these in it? What do I do with the tooth once I take it?"
"Swap her tooth for the money and bring the tooth back here. I'm going to put her tooth in her baby book in the morning. It's the last thing to finish her book."
Sheldon quietly crept down the hallway to his daughter's bedroom. Holding his breath, he entered the room and found the tooth in the box on Katie's nightstand where they had left it earlier that evening. Quickly opening it, he plucked the tooth from its resting spot and replaced it with the coins Amy gave him. Returning the box to the nightstand, he held the tooth between his fingers and discreetly left the room.
"I did it. She didn't wake up or make any movement like she might be trying to stay awake to see the tooth fairy. Here's her tooth for her baby book," Sheldon passed the tooth to Amy, who placed it in her jewelry box to keep Katie from seeing it in the morning. "Thank you for letting me do that."
Smiling at Sheldon, Amy simply answered, "Any time."
