Sunday 18 September 2005

the whole tooth


Jack's been a grizzly bear this week, which I thought was due to a cold. He had a runny nose and had quite a few screamy moments off and on - nothing that Mr. Calpol couldn't handle. So I was checking Jack's gums on Saturday (as you do daily when you're an insane new mother) and I said to Paul, "Oh!" "Oh?" he enquired. "I feel something! Toothy pegs! Toothy pegs!" I squealed. I peeked inside my son's mouth (who was now giving me an odd look) and saw the sharp jagged edge of his first tooth. I truly have no idea why something as mundane as a tooth is so exciting, and I can only chalk it up to one of the million weird things you do when you have a child. Regardless, both of us were quite thrilled about this new development, which I promptly recorded in Jack's baby book.

He's been chewing everything he can get his hands on (including my fingers, which bloody well hurts) and I think it's pretty uncomfortable for him. I smeared some Calgel on his gums which seems to slide around everywhere but the area you actually need it to be applied, and gave him a frozen oven chip (french fry) to chew on. I read something years ago about giving teething babies frozen chips to help with teething pain (or maybe I just made it up), and it did seem to make him happier. He's got teething keys in the fridge, but I think I need to purchase more soothing things to chew on. I also remember reading something about how a baby's first tooth tends to make an appearance roughly the same time as their parent's did, and for Jack this was true. My first toothy peg was at 7 months one week, Paul's was just short of his 6 month birthday, and Jack's right in the middle.

Just one question - why are baby teeth so sharp? Did we used to send babies out to hunt in prehistoric times? Did we use them to cut through jungle vines? Open tins before can openers were invented? It's a stumper.

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