"No. That's going to be something you'll have to ask Santa for. Maybe we can just get Velma by herself. Let's look it up and see," I said, pulling up Google on my iPhone. I was surprised that a plastic figure that stood only three quarters of an inch tall was $24.99. "Wow, Mae, you're going to have to lose a lot more teeth to be able to afford Velma. She's almost twenty five dollars!"

"How many teeth would that be?" she asked. "I've got another loose one."

"Well if you get three dollars per tooth, count how many teeth that would be." Senia Mae ran over to the desk and grabbed a pen and paper. She began listing groups of three in a line down the left side of the sheet, very impressive for a first grader.

"Seven, no, eight," she scratched her head. "I need to lose between eight and nine teeth, Mama."

"Very good Senia Mae!" I was so impressed that I almost ordered the Velma figure online, forgetting the important lesson I was trying to teach my young daughter. "Hmmm. Maybe we can look for something a little less expensive at Walmart today. Velma's going to have to wait until you can save up a little more."

"Awww, Mama," she moaned, "I need her and she's got the magnifying glass and everything!"

"Why don't we go down the My Life aisle and look for some supplies for your American Girl doll?"

"OK!" and she ran to the door, ready to go.

"Don't forget your three dollars," I reminded her, glad that she was temporarily distracted, but worried that the tooth fairy might just get a letter with the next tooth defending the inflation rate!