The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth…
Write down yesterday’s date on your calender, folks: IT WAS TOOTH DAY! Yes, Ben got his first tooth. This came as something of a shock because he didn’t exhibit any symptoms (no fever or fussiness, and no more drooling than usual). I was just letting him chew on my index finger while watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race” yesterday and -BAM!- the little bottom tooth made itself known. I immediately yelled, “Oh my god!” and burst into tears. Although I’m thrilled that he’s hit a new developmental milestone, it’s also profoundly sad to have tangible proof of my baby boy getting older. I want him to stay small and cuddly forever. There mere thought of him starting school sends me into a full-on panic attack. MY BABY! *sob*
Needless to say, I’ve been trying to take a picture of his mouth’s newest resident but Ben keeps coyly putting his tongue over it so all of the photographic evidence is the dental equivalent of those grainy, blurry Bigfoot snapshots from the 1970’s.
Speaking of milestones, I get these weekly email news letters from babycenter.com that lets me know what Ben should be doing by now and, though not actually stated, implies that if he hasn’t mastered all of the activities listed by now that there’s a good chance that he’s just dumb and that we should seriously consider abandoning him on someone’s doorstep. It’s a great way to reinforce that feeling of parental ineffectiveness every seven days. Last week’s said something like, “At this stage, your baby should have a rudimentary understanding of quantum mechanics and can recite most of Shakespeare’s sonnets by heart…” The kid isn’t even crawling yet– Jesus! So knowing that his first little wonderful tooth came on on schedule is a huge relief.