T is for Teething, Too!

The week upon our return from Ohio (after Thanksgiving), Benjamin was a bear!  Our normally happy-go-lucky little one was off-the-charts cranky!  After having our shoulders bit for a day or two (picture Benjamin lunging at us with mouth open wide!) and seeing the drool faucet turn out “loud” (as Jasper calls it), we figured he must be cutting new teeth.  The only thing is … we couldn’t see any new teeth coming in.  It wasn’t for lack of looking.  It was for not looking in the right spot!  I don’t know why this is, but with his front 8 teeth firmly established, the next to come in are not right next to the existing ones, but one spot over – further back in his mouth.  I felt like a veterinarian pushing up his gums (much as one does on a horse – but not a gift horse, of course!) and there was tooth #9 coming in on top on the right.  Poor kid!  This has been the first really painful tooth to come in. 

Tooth #10, the compliment on top has also recently come in (around Christmas).  With all the pain associated with these eruptions, brushing his teeth is a dangerous proposition.  You have to hold the fingertip brush lightly and not let your finger get trapped, because OUCH! he chomps!  In addition to all this chewing, we have not worked at extracting his pacifier.  Benjamin only uses it when he is ridiculously upset (read: being left in the nursery) and for going to sleep.  He can go without it for naps but often is so tired when it’s bedtime that the pacifier just makes him calm and lets him fall asleep easier.  When he gets up from naps or in the morning, we can hold out our hand and say “pacifier out,” and he’ll either spit it out into our hand or take it out with his hand and give it to us.  These days I’ve also started saying “why don’t we leave your pacifier in the crib,” and he’ll take it out and set it down (or toss it) in the crib.  It’s pretty cool.