Teeth

Rachel has lost both her bottom teeth now. She's only 5 and not even in school yet. This is about a year earlier than the boys, but then again she cut her first teeth at 4 months. I had wondered if she would then lose them earlier too. Apparently, yes. She told me occasionally one week that it hurt when she bit. Finally one day I checked and she had not only one, but two loose teeth. The first one was out a few days later and the next one about a week later. She was really scared for me to pull her tooth out. So when it was ready I tried to do as my Dad, "I'm just going to check it...oh, there look it's out." (And he 'checks' by pulling a little too hard and popping it out.) One time I pushed it back a little hard and it hurt so she wasn't about to let me put my fingers back into her mouth. That push made it way too loose to let it go the night though so I told her to show me how loose it was. I coached her, "push it all the way back and just a little bit more to see how far you can get it to go back, now all the way forward, now how far can you twist it this way, what about the other way," and out it came on the twist with no pain or scare. I've been the neighborhood tooth puller at times and pulled the neighborhood kids' teeth for them (and their parents who were worried about them swallowing it, but couldn't convince their kids to let them pull it). However, all my kids prefer to pull their own teeth.  I like this new way I've discovered of no trauma - get them to pull their own teeth method so thought I'd share it.


Coincidentally, just a couple of weeks before Rachel lost her teeth,  Sarah tripped going up the stairs and face (mouth) planted on a higher stair. Both her bottom teeth were knocked loose.  I pushed them back into place and the swelling held.  Of course it happened after 8pm when all clinics were closed; and, of course, the nurse advised me to take her to the ER.  The doc said I did the right thing and that's all he would have done too.  He didn't x-ray and extract them like the nurse had suggested was probably necessary given that they were sticking out at about a 45 degree angle.  Then when Rachel lost her teeth and got money for them, Sarah's world was crushed and all the relief and excitement that her teeth had healed was gone.  1) Because Rachel was different than her... missing teeth 2) because Rachel got money for her loose tooth.  So, now Sarah is eagerly awaiting the day she can have loose teeth again and get to take them out.  I think she feels cheated that she had to have hers put back in.  She might get her wish to lose a tooth sooner than later though.  One of the teeth is grayish now.  It doesn't look right. I'm going to have make time and money to take her to a dentist to get it properly examined and x-rayed.  I'll probably just leave it in if it's dead, as long as it's not causing any problems now or for the future to keep the space and save expense.  We'll see what the dentist says. She can't wait to go.  She wants me to make sure it's one that gives out bubble gum flavored toothpaste like Matthew got at his last cleaning. 

Sarah is always so eager to grow up and do and have and be like the older kids.  It's just going to kill her when Rachel starts school next year.  Until now, there has been the boys/girls division in the family.  It's taken me awhile to convince the girls that it's not just boys that go to school.  They thought that for awhile; because in our family the boys left each day and the girls stayed home.   I told Sarah the other day that she was too cute and I wanted to keep a little girl so I begged her to not grow up.  She said no, she had to grow up so she could read big boy's books.  We still have a ways to go to get her to understand that some of the things the boys do is not because they are boys, but because they are older.  Rachel is old enough to understand that now, but next year is going to be hard on Sarah.  We volunteer in the school now and Rachel sees the kindergartners have PE while I do lunch duty.  It just kills her to not join them now and she can't wait to go to school and have PE. Rachel will be in all day kindergaren too and talking Spanish within a month. (Another thing Sarah won't be able to do, although we frequently read stories in Spanish at naptime.  I've started collecting books in English and Spanish that match so we can read it in one language and then the other.  I'm hoping they'll pick it up some or at least make it easier when they start school in dual immersion.)  I'm also hoping that the boys will take more interest and apply themselves better to learn Spanish when Rachel begins to show them up and speak it. Rachel already tries to make up Spanish words. She calls me "mamas" thinking it's Spanish even though I've told her the correct way to say in Spanish.  I guess she just thinks Spanish words end in "s."