The Big Meanie Tooth

I took this picture this afternoon, as Michael lay in my arms, crying in pain and frustration.

I was trying to be quick, so that I could get back to my futile attempts to make him feel a bit better, and I couldn't really get in close enough. Thus, it's not particularly clear or well-lit, and doesn't remotely showcase the horror that is Michael's gum line right now. Which, by the way, bruised as it still is, actually looked much better today than the day before. My poor baby boy. How terribly unfair it all seems. :(

So, as you can see, we're smack in the middle of Teething Hell. Again. Michael's had a couple of rough days and (especially) nights of it, which means that the rest of us have, too. Tom and I have been doing our best to soothe him with occasional doses of Tylenol and teething drops, cuddles, snuggles, gum rubs, and offerings of chewable toys, but one quick glance at the state of his mouth is enough to indicate to me that he must be in quite a bit of constant discomfort. It's that top-left central incisor that seems to be the instigator of all of the trouble, and here's what I have to say to that Big Meanie:

Quit it with the nudging, inching, readjusting, noncommittal, back-and-forth whatever-action you've got going on in there! You're turning my baby's gums a shocking shade of purple, and they're swollen and bruised. For months now, we've seen the faintest evidence of your existence just beneath the surface of the gum, only to find, in the next day or two, that you've burrowed back to wherever it is you came from like the coward that you are.

Come out already, and do it soon. And remember this: some day, in the not-too-distant future, it will be your time to be replaced by a bigger, kinder tooth. When that day comes, you'll drop out of your cozy position, into the world beyond, and you'll be at my mercy. See to it that I'm not still feeling so resentful that you find yourself taking a long dip in a nice, tall glass of Coca-Cola. 

Take a pointer from your sister-tooth, Left-hand Lower Lateral Incisor. She snuck in like a ninja, and it was only just today that I noticed the very edge of her head peeking through Michael's gum line. Her entrance was quiet and unassuming, and as a proper tooth-breakthrough should be.

Sincerely,

One Desperate, Overprotective Mama Bear