Smile

When I say "smile" to my little guy, he flashes his pearly whites, and says "cheese." Well, whats left of them anyways. My boys are boys.  There is no doubt about that, private parts not taken into consideration. They just act like boys! I thought my oldest was going to drive my batty during his early toddler years.  He was usually caught climbing chairs and couches, jumping off plastic bins (no lie, I have this on video), climbing out of his crib, etc. We have calmed down a bit, but now I have ANOTHER CRAZY TODDLER.

Here is how the majority of my day goes with him: I put him in his high chair, he flips his body, wiggles out, and stands up.  I take his tray off, pull his little legs down, and he does it again.  And again, until finally I say "all done" and let him out.  Then I settle down to watch a show, or check email, and I ask the older one- Where's your baby brother?  "Upstairs, he almost always replies."  So I go upstairs to retrieve him, he fusses at me, throws whatever is in his hand down in anger, and I take him back downstairs.  I let him play for a little bit, and then I hear another whine/mini tantrum, and when I turn around, he is in the middle of the table, wondering how he is going to get down.  And that happens pretty much all day long, day after day.

Monday was no different.  I was checking my phone, and I hear the little guy fuss a bit. I kind of ignore him because he fusses all the time.  A good while later, I hear another little fuss.  About a second or two later, I hear a loud scream, I turn around, and as I do, I hear the chair shaking and then BOOM.  Followed by a scream.  It sounded as if someone was being attacked by a dog, or like they had just knocked their tooth out. It happened that fast people.  I took a flying two foot leap over to my son's rescue, and frantically try to get his knee out of the chair.  He starts screaming louder because I can't get his leg from the bars in the chair. I finally get him unstuck and see the massive amount of blood coming from his mouth.

Over to the sink we go, I am more than panicked, and I don't really know what to do, except get wet paper towels and water for his mouth, and try to soothe him.  Before I rinse his mouth out, I see a chalky color thing going sideways in his mouth.  OH MY GOSH HE LOST A TOOTH.  I take the tooth out, wash it off, and continue to rinse his mouth out. I did not really understand the severity of what had just happened until much later.

I called the pediatrician and they told me to go to the ER in another county, because they have a pediatric ER, and might have a pediatric dentist on call. So that's what I did. His mouth is still bleeding, mixed in with snot and slobber, and he looked like something straight out of a vampire movie. Whenever that happens, they want to make sure there is no brain damage, so he gets checked out, and then they tell me he will be toothless until his adult teeth come, at which time he will go through the teething process all over again.

Wait, what?  You can't do ANYTHING?  I have the tooth right here, it is still in tact.  Look, its even clean.  I knew there was nothing they could do, but really hoping I was wrong.  So the doctor's boss came into our "room" (a curtain and a gurney), wiggle his front tooth, and told me to go to a pediatric dentist tomorrow.  No crap, that's why I am here!!!!

First thing in the morning, I make an appointment for the dentist, and they get us in pretty quickly. Us isn't really the right word, because they took my little guy away from me for x-rays, and the exam.  They give me my darling baby back, after I hear him SCREAM the whole time.  Dr's. words-"I'm concerned.  That other tooth is extremely loose.  Come back in two days, and lets see if it gets any better."  Maybe if I give him enough milk, and pray hard enough, he will get to keep his front tooth. Kids are mean, and lets face it, even adults are too.  He already has a chronic hematoma on his face, now this?

I tried to keep everything out of his mouth, even his thumb.  Do you know how hard it is to tell a 15 month old thumb sucker that he can't suck his thumb.  HA!  We went about our business the next day, and he was acting like nothing had happened.  Resilience I tell ya! I would periodically look in his mouth and get the quivers because of how nasty his gums looked, and how black the other tooth looked.

Woke up bright and early on Thursday morning, gave my little guy a banana in the car, and of course some milk- last ditch effort.  Parked, said another prayer, and signed him in.  They take him back, and good old Dr. Jones, not even five minutes later, beckons for me.  He simply says "Its going to have to come out."  I start crying like a sissy girl, and he hugs me.  I give consent and 20 minutes later, my baby, who is known by friends and family alike for his beautiful smile, is embracing me, and crying, and drooling blood all over my shirt.

In the car we go, but I can't even make it as far as putting him in his car seat before I get a good glimpse at his mouth and start balling.  Yes, crying worse than my baby. I feel awful!  I KNOW it isn't my FAULT, but I think if I just ran over a millisecond before and caught the chair.  Or if I was looking his way as he climbed the chair and took him off of it for the 21st time that day, then maybe he would still have his beautiful grin. And again, I know how mean people can be. Don't forget how bad his gums look after having one tooth pulled and another knocked out and bruised!

It's a really good thing that mouths heal quickly!  I love that kid, and he is in good spirits. I don't even know if he knows that anything really happened.  He didn't take a day off from his climbing and being a typical boy adventures.  Even though I am really going to miss that grin, I think his new smile gives him.... character!