5 Teeth in 3 days

So, those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook probably saw my post about Vaeh's tooth.  6 months ago at her check up and cleaning the dentist informed us that her bottom teeth were loose enough to come out soon, and her top teeth soon after the bottom.  At first, I was excited and encouraged her to wiggle them  so they would come out.  She showed absolutely no interest and we all but forgot she even had loose teeth.  Then, just randomly a few nights ago she was eating raw potato slices and it just popped right out!  

The look on her face was a bit shocked.  She showed me, and we all got really excited about her new milestone.  We wanted to take pictures, tell her to put her tooth in an envelope and put it under her pillow, hugging her, etc.  After about 5 minuted of excitement I finally take notice of her feelings instead of mine and see she doesn't look happy.  I ask her what's wrong and she beings to cry.  I know what's wrong. I never really explained much about loosing your baby teeth, when it happens, why it happens, and that its totally normal. Parent Fail! Anyone else feel like they are constantly failing their first born?

So I empathized with her, and then we talked about the ins and outs of loosing teeth.  We looked at pictures, watched youtube videos, and she was beginning to feel more and more comfortable with the idea of loosing more teeth, especially when she woke in the morning to find money under her pillow.

Life was good and I made myself a mental note to have a very in depth talk with her about her changing body so we didn't have another terribly anxious moment where she thinks her body is broken.  We had one glorious day where Vaeh was exploring her new look, new ways to eat around the new hole in her mouth, and new found confidence in her body.  Now you may be thinking she was so confident that she decided to wiggle the rest of those teeth out herself, right?  Oh, not even close.

So...I have two boys, and if you have boys you know they like to wrestle and play rough.  And since Vaeh is  such an awesome older sister she wrestles with them.  Vaeh and Joby were taking turns running into each other that would push one of them into the couch.  They had pillows, and though I did think it could turn ugly if they weren't careful I gave them one short disclaimer and decided to trust them to work out for themselves how to regulate the roughness of their play.  Well, after about 10 minutes Vaeh looked away and Joby ran at her.  Right as she looked at him(unrepared) his head collided with her front teeth.  I heard it and knew it wasn't good.  Vaeh's mouth was bleeding pretty bad and her teeth looked drastically different.  

We were on our way to the dentist in 15 minutes.  After a quick x-ray the prognosis was to pull the damaged teeth.  The impact of the hit was hard enough to knock her teeth down and back.  They were badly bruised and the easiest way to fix it, since they were all already loose was to pull them.  I knew she would be heart broken to hear that just  a day after loosing one she would now have to adjust to loosing 4 more.  The procedure itself was awful.  I may have cried, Vaeh for sure cried, screamed at times, even with laughing gas and being numbed.  Pretty sure we took her to Wal-Mart after and spoiled her with goodies and snuggled her all through the night.

5 teeth in three days. :(  Although she is now $25 richer, I wish I could have spared her the agony she had to go through to get it.  I'm sure she would rather have her teeth than the money.  When she woke up this morning I was brace for her being devastated, and she was smiling.  The resiliency of the human spirit is amazing!  She is chipper and happy, and it just goes to show that your life really is about your attitude and perspective. 

Its so hard to be a parent and watch your child cry and have hard times without being able to do anything but hold them and be there for them.  As a parent I want to protect her and solve all her problems, but the best part is watching them pick themselves up, dust themselves off and move on and make the best of their lives.  She doesn't need me to solve her problems, because she can solve her own problems! Sometimes she needs guidance to solve her problems, but she always does the actual fixing.  It is fantastic to realize these kids are so capable and strong and resilient!  More often than not I feel like they influence me more than I influence them.

We suffer traumas all the time, whether it be small or large, and what we decide to do from there makes all the difference.

Do you feel like your kids have taught you more than you have taught them?  Its kind of a recurrent theme for me.:)

~Have a Happy Weekend~