Adult Teething?

True Story:

Last night my friend Meghan and I enjoyed some fine Mexican cuisine.  My favorite!  Chips, salsa, enchiladas, margaritas, the whole shebang!  On the way home I kept rubbing my tongue against something foreign and uncomfortable on the top left-hand side of my mouth, by the very back teeth.  I stuck my finger in and tried to scrape out the particle... no luck.  I got home, immediately brushed my teeth, and felt no relief.  I rubbed my toothbrush some more back there and it wasn't budging.  I think I pushed it further into the gums.  I continued to climb onto the kitchen counter and sit in the sink so I could examine the situation.  Given the unfavorable location I grabbed my powder compact and tried to stick it in my mouth to see what was going on....  I don't know why I didn't just LOOK at the powder compact and KNOW that it wouldn't fit, but I turned it as many different ways as I could and it wasn't going in.  So, next I tried flossing.  Nothing came out.  I rinsed with mouthwash..... twice.  NOTHING! 

After Elise was in bed, I grabbed my toothbrush and went and sat on the couch so I could watch TV and try to dislodge it while I watched TV.  I was certain it was a chip or the outer casing of a refried bean that had wrapped itself around my entire tooth.  The toothbrush was useless and I was starting to screw up the bristles.  Next tool of choice?  A toothpick.  I then proceeded to make my gums bleed.  Back to the bathroom I went.  More flossing and then I tried one of those gum pokers I got from the dentist last time.  That piece of food was not budging.  I finally gave up and decided to go to bed.

I called my dentist's office at 8:02am.  I talked to the fire chief's wife and told her what the situation was.  I asked her if Julie, my dental hygienist could just look at it and get it out with one of her instruments.  She said the dentist would look at in case it was swollen or something.  So, fine a dentist appointment it was.  I showed up, they took me back, and I told my dentist where it was bothering me and that I thought I had some leftover Mexican food stuck in my tooth.  He took a look and said "oh, I see it."  So I'm thinking, "well, is it a chip?  A bean?  I bet it's HUGE!"  Then he said "that's a tooth coming in..."  Seriously?!  A tooth?  He had his assistant take an x-ray, and he showed me where my one and only wisdom tooth is coming in.  He said it would need to be taken out, but in the meantime to take Ibuprofen and swish around salt water for the inflammation.

Talk about feeling like an idiot!!!  So, I guess Elise and I are going to be teething together!

Bounce With Me

My Favorite Time of The Day

Breakfast time is my favorite part of the day.  I'm not much of a morning person, so this is the perfect way to ease into my day... slowly and quietly.  

Elise and I both sit down at the table together and share waffles and milk... 2% for me, whole milk for her.  She loves waffles!  It usually takes her a bit longer to eat her's than it does me, so while she's finishing up I check my emails, blog, work on my grocery list or look up new recipes.

It's time well spent together....

Words of Encouragement

Nov. 1st was Elise's 12 month check up.  It was the usual weighing, measuring, blah blah blah, the doctor will be in a minute.  The pediatrician came in and asked how it was going.

I took a deep breath, sighed, and said "it's going..................ok." 

She looked at me with the raised eyebrow and said "oh that doesn't sound good." 

I told her how awful Elise had been acting the last several days and it had been wearing me down.  Dr. Walsh checked her over and found her to be healthy... meaning no other reason (besides teething) we could blame her psychotic behavior on.  I found this to be comforting, but annoying... like "are you sure she doesn't have an ear infection?"  I mean, really there's got to be something wrong for her to scream and carry on like she has been.  But, nothing.

I ran through my list of questions.  An important one I had been eager to ask was about what I should be feeding her.  She has 2 bottom teeth, 1 top one half way in, and the one next to it breaking ground.  She still wants to eat purees.  Well, as I had expected Dr. Walsh said she needs to be eating what we eat and she just has a case of "L-A-Z-Y" meaning, she doesn't want to have to chew anything up.  So, she is to eat 6 times a day.  Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and snack.  She's given 6 opportunities a day to eat and get satisfied.  When she decides to throw her food on the floor or have a tantrum, that meal is over.  I am now down to nursing once a day... before bedtime.  I dropped her morning feeding last week and she hasn't had any problems. 

Another important topic I wanted to discuss with the doctor was her little "fits" that she throws.  Some kind of switch must have flipped on the moment she turned 1 because she throws a fit when it's time for bed, now.  Bedtime used to never be a problem.  I always laid her down, turned on the seahorse and she was out.  Now it's screaming, crying, throwing things out of the crib for like 20-30 minutes.  She immediately has a tantrum if I take something away from her or pick her up while she's playing or set her down when she wants me to hold her.  I told the pediatrician all of this.  She said that Elise is pretty "strong willed and expressing her independence."  Ummmm, excuse me?!  She's 12 months old.  If she's soooo independent, she can wipe her own butt!  I thought I was going to have another 12 months before I would be dealing with any of this!  I think I'm going to have my hands full.

After I was done asking all of my questions, Dr. Walsh was on her way to get the nurse to give Elise her shots and she said "You're doing a good job.  Keep it up.  I don't think she's your boss, yet."

Another deep breath.  Ahhh....Words of encouragement and a sigh of relief.  Sometimes it's nice to hear someone say you are doing a good job when there are days that you doubt yourself, your decisions, your abilities, and otherwise just want to bang your head against the wall.  After she said that to me, I felt a new sense of calm and reminded myself that I am doing the hardest job there is, and I can give her Tylenol every 4 hours until those rotten little teeth come in.

I think the worst is over for this round of teething.  We are now battling with getting her schedule back on track from the time change and transitioning to table foods.  There have been a lot of changes over the last couple of weeks and it's not just the weather and trees.  I'm trying to get through them one at a time and am looking forward to having a pleasant, happy, little girl again!

Twelve Month Report

Stats

18lbs. 14 oz. (Just below 25th percentile)

30'' long (75th percentile)

Head: 18 3/4'' (75th percentile)

Development

dancing to music

standing assisted

give kisses

puts hand out to wave

drinks milk from sippy cup 
eating table food
Big Girl Attitude!

Trick or Treat

The Terrible Twelve Month Tanrums

My recent blog posts have been mostly pictures and a lack of "content."  You see, my child has just been awful for the last week!  Between the spastic tantrums over having the remote, computer, cell phone, and digital camera taken out of her hands and the demonic teeth breaking through her gums, I have been trying to find my sanity.

The first few times she would stick her bottom lip out and let out one of those fake cries when I took the above mentioned items away from her, I thought it was just a temporary upset.  OHHHH No.  Every.Single.Time she has stuff taken away, it's a full blown tantrum.  Her new favorite game is to throw her paci and toys out of her PNP or crib repeatedly and then scream until Jason or I pick them up and put them back in there for her to throw out and on to the floor again.  The same goes with her sippy cup and snacks on the high chair tray.  It drives me crazy.

We are also working on tooth #3 and #4 (the top two front teeth).  Her gums are sore, red, and swollen.  She doesn't want to eat much because it hurts, so then she's hungry AND in pain.  Last night she was climbing the walls!  She was crying and screaming like I've never heard from her before.  I was almost in tears myself.

Luckily there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Elise has her 12 month check up this afternoon, so hopefully Dr. Walsh can give her me some Prozac.