Teething
Now is it just me, or can just about all of the world’s ills be put down to babies’ teething?
She’s dribbling… Maybe she’s teething?
She’s gone off her food….Maybe she’s teething?
Israel have invaded Gaza… Maybe she’s teething?
Everyone who has ever been a parent has told me at some point in the last nine months that my daughter must be teething. From the moment she was born she’s been a teething time bomb. Even her 96-year-old Great Granddad who’s half-deaf, half-blind and not interested in much other than rocks (he’s a geologist, not a weirdo) got in on the act.
I got to the point where all this constant talk of teeth but no sign of any actual pearly whites had me paranoid that Lyra would never ever produce a first tooth. I thought she’d be starting primary school with dentures. “Lyra are you ready for school? Have you got your book bag and your Fixodent?”
It also got more than a little wearing being asked whether mystical tooth number one had appeared yet. Now don’t get me wrong, I love people to take an interest in my daughter, and am happy to brag with the best of them about her achievements to date (she was a VERY early crawler you know…) but I felt unfairly penalised by the whole teeth business. Everyone was eagerly awaiting this small gnasher, which if the rumours were to be believed would wreak a lot of havoc on its way but it just didn’t come and didn’t come. And there was NOTHING I could do about it. My gummy nine-moth-old each day signified my failure as a parent.
Then one day, about a week ago, Lyra was biting my face (it’s fair to say she likes a bit of rough and tumble..) and amongst the slobber I felt the graze of something tiny and hard.
“SHE HAS A TOOTH!” I proclaimed, eager to let Daddy know the miracle that was unfolding in the living room. With your average microscope you could see it clear as day. We’d had no idea it was coming (I felt slightly cheated)… but we did know that teeth come in pairs and number two would be along soon. Tooth number two appeared today – and I bet you can imagine what we’ve been saying every time Lyra gave the slightest sniffle, or showed a modicum of discomfort or unwilling in the last week…..
“MAYBE SHE’S TEETHING?!”
Confessions of a Bad Mother 
She must be teething!!
Well, she beat Ben. His first tooth appeared over new year. He was one at end of October! I didn’t want them to appear by then, I loved his gummy smile too much 🙂 But appear they did, and we did have 5 rough months (teeth and eczema and rashes and then chickenpox) but the teeth are just referred to (by Ben) as spiders now, they have stopped bothering him quite so much when they come through. (I think. Maybe we just haven’t had any through recently…!)
I’m going to miss the gummy grin too!
if you have failed as a parent for your child being late to produce teeth… i’m just horrifically terrible – Katie was 4 weeks older when her first appeared! And her second has not even come yet!
She has today taken to a whole fist and half the other one in her mouth – maybe she’s teething?!?!
She must be. There is no possible alternative rational explanation…..
Love this! Found you on my Twitter list…and yes, ALL of the problems are related to teething. In fact, my oldest son just turned four and after a rather embarrassing tantrum at the store, I explained to a group of bewildered seniors that he was “teething.”
Well, so what? He could be.
Love your blog.
This made me laugh out loud! You know you’re going to have to think of a different excuse before he turns 12 right?!
not really, you could simply justify it as early wisdom teeth teething 😀
not necessarily- at 12 you could justify it as premature wisdom teeth 😀
Love the blog!
Why thank you hubby xxx
ha ha … very messy nappies are also the result of teething. I remember that one , and looking at the bearer of those glad tidings and thought, “what world does she come from”.
Funnily enough I think that joy may be the topic for today!