The Toothless Terror

I think I'll be kind and will update you on one child at a time. Cuts down on how much you're forced to read and how much I have to write. Brian and I are planning on watching a non-cartoon tonight as soon as he gets Will to sleep and I'm guessing we'll be interrupted a couple times since Will had me up until 1:30 am last night with a horrible coughing fit. So we'll just enjoy an update of the Toothless Wonderboy over here.

So the little man is no longer a little boy. To be more specific, he's now officially a Preschooler. He moved up in his daycare in August to the very last room in the building - Preschool. I was thrilled to see him move up there because he was beyond ready for it, but heartbroken because I knew this was his final room, which can mean only one thing...Kindergarten next year. Time has flown with him.

As if I needed more proof, he hit another milestone a couple weeks ago. As we were eating breakfast one morning, Will suddenly burst into teachers. They weren't hurt tears or angry tears - they were scared tears. Brian and I both jumped up and went to find out what was wrong. Will sobbed and looked at us and said, "My tooth is wiggling." Now, I have to mention here that loose teeth are Brian's assignment in our family. I don't do loose teeth. They make my stomach churn, my muscles tighten up, and my gag reflexes kick into high gear. So Brian did his daddy-duty and examined Will's teeth. Sure enough, my baby had his first loose tooth. Luckily for his squeamish momma, it wasn't loose enough to pull. Just loose enough for him to know it was happening.

A couple weeks later, Mina and Parker came to town and, on their last day here, Will decided he wanted to show Parker his dance moves. On the couch. Without a care in the world. Until he fell off the couch, of course. He fell and smacked his face on the coffee table.

Now I have to pause and mention that I'm seriously considering adding this coffee table to the garage sale pile in my basement. It's nothing but trouble. The kids leave cups full of stuff for it to spill on my floor and create rings on the varnish. It's a clutter-keeper as it seems to accumulate the most junk. And even worse, it invites injuries...serious ones. It's what Will was running around last Christmas Eve. And what Ann Catherine decided to use to stop him from said running around. And what he hit his arm on before he fell on the floor on top of the same arm. It's what I had to move across the floor to get to my screaming son and what I held on to when I discovered his arm now looked like an "s". So needless to say, having my son dance off the couch only meant the table was waiting with open arms (or legs, I guess).

Sure enough, the boy managed to smack his face on the table which created a very large gash in his upper gums and loosened a couple more teeth. We avoided a rush to his pediatric dentist and the local ER (which was good since this was Labor Day) after talking to the pediatric dentist's nurse and getting some advice on how to ice it up and get him through the day until he could be seen in the morning by his dentist.

What is it with my son and national holidays? Can anyone blame me for hiding under my bed during Thanksgiving or Christmas? Sorry - I digress.

Anyway, we survived it although we think he now has some permanent gum damage that may cause him to need periodontal surgery after all his permanent teeth come in. And his upper front tooth is now turning a lovely shade of gray as we all wait for it to fall out.

To top it all off, we took him to the dentist again last week for a regular cleaning...only to find out he had his first cavity. Let me warn you - little children cavities aren't fun. To do the filling, kids have to be sedated, given the funny gas, and THEN they can get the shot to start working on the teeth. And then they have to be watched for the rest of the day to make sure they're handling the sedation OK. Not fun for a working mom who now needs to take a day off...all because of a cavity. But we survived and here is my doped-up little monster sucking on a sucker that the dentist gave him. (You know, in case one cavity wasn't enough.) It's not easy to suck on a sucker when you're only half awake.

The good news, though, was the kind little nurse did us a little favor. She "bumped" his loose tooth (which, by now, was VERY loose but he wouldn't let us pull it). Sure enough, that afternoon (the night before his cavity "surgery"), he proudly announced to his Nanny that his tooth had fallen out. He was calm, but so very proud of himself. And loved the $2 he found under his pillow the next morning!

But beyond that, my little boy is growing like a weed, now tall enough to stand against my stomach. And he can write his name (if you spell it "Wlli"). He can recognize colors and he has a life full of friends, activity and laughter. He loves to run, play, and explore the world.

Then again, he also loves to break every toy and other item he finds in my house. But you'd break things all the time too if you needed to slay dragons in the kitchen, chase the little four-legged barking monster around the house, and pull out your best ninja moves for the bad guys who apparently live in the living room.