More teeth! September 8, 2010

I guess as an adult you just never really think about all the teeth kids get in their first few years of life! And us poor mommy’s are usually just left to guess at what is going on all the time since they can’t just say, “my tooth is owwwie”. In the past month alone, Abby has gotten 4 teeth and has a 5th one almost through. When you see one has broken through you kind of breathe a sigh of relief that now she will have some relief but for her there has been none On top of it being a very warm summer that has kept us indoors a lot more that I have liked, and being pregnant, plus her teething, it has made for a pretty miserable summer for both of us.
As part of her teething, Abby has taken to grinding her teeth. Talk about a hair-pulling sound! I’m afraid that she may not have any teeth left up front by the time her back ones grow in if she keeps on at the rate she has been grinding away! I know that it is normal and everything but I still worry that she grinds away too much.
She has also been chewing on her thumb as a chew-toy. She will have these little red teeth marks all over her thumb and hand and I just want to hand her a toy and say, please just chew on this! She chews on everything though from her blankie and bottle to any toy small enough to fit into her mouth. She is constantly trying to chew on her shoes, bottles of nail polish and oh the joy if she can find a bottle cap or half of an easter egg! Her books are all tattered, not so much from reading them as from her gnawing on the edges. Have I mentioned before that she chews on her bedrails so badly if we are not right there to get her when she wakes up?
One of the worst things about teething for her at least in the past few weeks has been a red bottom. It has cleared up a lot due to extra soaking in the tub and a lot more vigilance with wet diapers on my part. Why do they have to poop so often just because they’re teething? Ach vell. A few days ago, I caught her in the middle of what looked like a mess but I changed her anyhow and let her play in the kitchen sink while I was cleaning up the kitchen. After drying her off, I decided that I was going to let her run around for a bit without her diaper and see if that would help with the redness. Well, I guess the bit was a bit longer than I should have waited but I was cleaning up the kitchen and here she comes with poop all the way down her leg . I quickly grabbed her and set the picture of water that had been sitting in the sink she recently vacated onto the counter only not far enough on the counter and it fell off onto the hard tile floor and shattered (it was hard plastic) leaking its contents all over the floor, waking up daddy and scaring Abby. (sunday afternoon) Needless to say, I washed her hiney off in the sink and put her diaper on before grabbing the cleaner and a towel and went to clean the rug in front of the fireplace where she had obviously stomped the poop into the carpet. When will I learn?
When will the teething end? I guess when she’s 20 years old and has her full set of permanent teeth :0….Until then, we just keep trying to interpret the signs of teething and when she really eats something, we breathe a prayer of thanks that today, she has eaten and is not whining because she is hungry. So far we’ve gotten through the teething just fine and hopefully will continue to do so. Wish us luck!

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