Sunday, December 5, 2010

Tooth Fairy for a 13 Month Old?

What is it about the 3rd kid?  Myles is such a joy to have in our family however, it seems I have been asking myself lately what the difference is with this child.  Maybe it is because there has been too much time between the other kids and Myles, and my memory is short or maybe it is because I am busier now and I can't keep track of his every little move, but this kid keeps me running.  He is constantly in drawers and cupboards and pulling things out, he loves the toilet, bathroom cabinets, and the washer and dryer, he is a climber and tries to climb up on anything that is low enough to get his leg up onto.  It pretty much seems like he likes everything that isn't a toy and everything that he shouldn't be playing with.  Plus he is now walking full time so he just moves around that much faster. Below are some pictures of some of his mischievousness.










Now on to the Tooth Fairy story...  Lynn and I have commented before that we feel like Myles might be the child that is a little more accident prone because he is already showing signs of bravery (i.e. climbing) that we hadn't seen in Madi or Parker at this age. Well, today he proved it.  Parker, Madi and I were out on the back deck cleaning and Myles was busily walking around having fun on the deck.  I had sent Parker to get the broom from the garage and on his way back to the deck Myles saw him on the ground and took off running to get him.  He was running so fast and didn't even look down when he came to the stairs and needless to say, he went a rolling down the stairs.  

It is only 4 or 5 stairs and it looked like he pretty much just rolled so I figured no big deal.  Picked him up, brushed him off and gave him some loves.  Then I saw the blood in his mouth.  Figuring he had just cut his lip or tongue, I thought no big deal and washed out his mouth and tried to clean him up.  However, the blood wouldn't stop coming.  Finally, I pulled down his lower lip and his two cute bottom teeth were pointing forward laying flat down on his gums with the root up and all.  Then the panic hit!  I did pretty well and called Lynn's parents down (sometimes I really love that they live right next door), called the dentist and tried to figure out what to do.  Finally we decided to head to the dentist rather than the emergency room because there didn't seem to be any other injuries besides the teeth.

Peggy drove while I sat in the back seat and held the poor little man and tried to keep him calm.  Once we were at the dentist, he had me lay down in the chair with Myles laying on top of me so that I could hold down his arms.  Dr. Gunnell pulled down his lower lip and said "Yep, we're going to have to pull those out."  Then my tears came.  I had held up pretty well until that point, but the thought of my baby losing his cute little teeth and having a gap in his teeth until he is about 6 or 7 years old just about killed me.  Seems kind of silly now, I know, but I really think I could have handled stitches or a broken bone way better than going through him losing teeth at such a young age.  

Anyway, Dr. Gunnell and his assistants (who I think are awesome!) moved quickly and had the teeth out in about 20 seconds.  One of them came out easily and the other one had to be pulled a little harder.  Myles and I bawled through the whole thing, but once they were done Myles took his binky and started to calm down.  He wouldn't have anything to do with the doctor or his assistants and wouldn't even take a balloon they made for him until we were in the car.  By that night he acted like nothing had happened and besides not being able to eat certain foods, he is right back to normal.  He is such a trooper!

I tried to get some pictures of him that night just to show a little of what it all looked like, but he was not cooperating very well.  So instead you just see his wet shirt.  He seems to be drooling more now that his teeth are gone.  Maybe the teeth also help keep spit in the mouth. :)




This is an old picture from September that shows the cute little teeth. A before picture if you will.
Who would have thought a 13 month old could also be in need of the Tooth Fairy!

To top this all off, just two days before this accident, Myles was in with the eye doctor getting the tubes taken out of his tear ducts.  We had to hold him down while the doctor clipped the tubes and pulled them out.  Hopefully this child won't have a fear of doctors now, with the fun week he has experienced!