The First Tooth

I wrote a while back wondering Are Teeth Evil? They seem to wreak so much havoc in our lives. They require constant care and attention. If you neglect them they strike back with cavities and worse.

Braden has been battling his own teeth demons. According to our pediatrician he has been teething now for months. Every day he allegedly teethes and teethes. All this hard work and no results. When the teething action ramps up Braden goes through bouts of grumpiness. He is not his normal happy self even though there are no teeth to be found.

Finally last week we had a tooth show itself. There is now a tiny white protuberance in Braden's lower gum. You can barely see it, but it is there. A quick feel with a finger can prove that our eyes are not deceiving us. After months of work Braden finally has his first tooth.

Along with the tooth has come another brief period of less than a joyous mood. Over the weekend Braden did not sleep well. Two straight nights he cried and cried rather than sleeping like normal. Every time I went into his room one of those nights he was standing up holding the rail on his crib and crying. He was giving me a look as if to say, "I'll jump if you don't get me out of this wooden prison."

Last night things returned to normal, at least for a while. The little man slept through the night. Arica and I are both very excited for the first tooth. That is one step closer to meat and taters for our little boy. Until he has that full mouth of precision eating instruments we will keep the pain killers handy, for us and him.

Teething: Are Teeth Evil?

I have a love/hate relationship with my teeth. I am a devoted carnivore. Therefore I need my teeth to enjoy the red meat I crave. Actually I am a food lover of all kinds. I grew up eating only southern food, but I have since branched out. My travels introduced me to strange new cuisines, and I love them all. Teeth are needed to eat no matter what you enjoy. Italian food requires teeth. Mexican food requires teeth. So does Chinese, Thai, German, and everything else not being served from a blender. From this point of view teeth are my friend.

Despite their helpfulness with food, my teeth have led to much pain in my life. The mere existence of teeth supports the need for a dentist. This person is paid great sums of money to execute a legal form of torture. I've had numerous bouts with the dentist. Most of my teeth have fillings. I have always brushed my teeth, but small cavities cropped up anyway. I haven't had one in around ten years, but I think that's because every tooth in my head is already filled. The removal of many of my baby teeth required professional help. I even had three permanent teeth pulled because my mouth was too small. Then there are the wisdom teeth. I had those removed too. Everyone is aware of the joys of wisdom teeth removal.

Throughout my life these two areas seemed to balance each other out. I would put up with my teeth's misbehavior in order to eat the foods I love. Not only that, but I once heard you had to eat in order to survive. Teeth are a necessary thing.

Fast forward to life with a 5 1/2 month old baby. Based on information I received from a stranger at Wal-Mart, Braden may be teething. He has always been a happy baby enjoying everyone and everything. In the past few days this normally cheerful baby has turned on us. He is only happy for very brief intervals. Those all too short times are followed up by crying and copious amounts of slobber. Nothing can keep him happy for very long.

Dealing with an unhappy baby is a trying thing. We are constantly trying to find new things that might make him happy. After all he can only eat and nap so much.

This new development has made up my mind. Teeth are evil. I can stand them hurting me in return for help with the food. Now they are hurting my son which in turn makes life unpleasant for everyone. Hopefully the culprit will show his face soon enough. Then we can return to a joyful existence until the next tooth tries to make its escape from the gum line.

Babies Try to Eat Everything

Since most of my regular readers are parents themselves the title of this post will come as no surprise. Everyone knows that a baby will put anything and everything they can get their grubby paws on directly into their mouth. Our pediatrician once told us that is how they explore their surroundings. They have very little feeling early on so they check things out by taste. Listen to me babies of the world. If the only option you have for exploration is tasting things then you are better off being ignorant of your surroundings. It is a dirty world out there. Exploration by taste would be the equivalent of us grown-ups picking out a new shirt by tyring to eat it. It makes no sense for people big or small. Of course babies poop their pants too. You don't see adults doing that either, at least until a very advanced age.

The more understandable reason that babies chew on everything is because they are teething. Braden has been chewing on things bringing on proclamations he was teething for quite a while. When we visited the doctor last week he confirmed that Braden was teething. He said it was on the bottom middle because he curled his fingers to that area. So far so good with that grand adventure. Braden's favorite trick is to try and put his entire fist in his mouth. He can nearly do it. Sometimes he changes it up and tries to get both hands in his mouth at once. He eats stuffed animals, hard toys, books, shirts, bibs, and blankets. All this teething and chewing leads to plenty of slobber. Living with a 4 month old baby is a slobbery situation any way you cut it. I don't mind it at all but I walk around constantly with a wet spot on my right shoulder. This is where I hold Braden most often and thus his favorite chewing spot on daddy. It dries quickly unless it is right after he has his green veggies.

Since Braden tries to eat everything in his path I decided to document one such occurrence. The video is a little dark. That is my fault. I am an engineer after all not a camera man. Here is Braden trying to eat one of those soft noisy books.