"All I want for Christmas..."

So. Here's the story behind the photo from a couple of days ago. (Warning: some gory details to follow, tread carefully if you are the squeamish type).

Before last Sunday this is what my son looked like:


Happy boy, cute smiling face.

Here is his happy, slightly altered smiling face:


Last Sunday morning we were trying to get ready to go to the Farmer's Market before heading out to pick up my MIL at the airport. The Italian was out back in his office, Punkin was sitting on the sofa reading, and Buddy was running back and forth between the living room and the kitchen. I was on the phone, telling the Italian that we were about to leave, when I heard the familiar "thud" followed by the sound of a child crying. I hung up the phone and went to pick up Buddy, who was face down on the carpet. I figured he had bumped his head or banged his elbow, no big deal. When I flipped him over I found that his face was a bloody mess (cranio-facial wounds bleed profusely!)

I grabbed a handful of paper towels to staunch the bleeding, sent Punkin to get the Italian ("please go tell your father he needs to come inside right now!") and figure out what was going on. It was evident right away that he had damaged his teeth - he coughed and one of his front teeth landed in my hand. Once I wiped away enough blood I found that the remaining front tooth was dangling by some gum tissue. The Italian said we had to pull it out to keep him from swallowing it, so I did that next. All this while swabbing away blood, trying to call the doctor's office, and comforting the screaming child in my lap.

We took him to the dentist (our fabulous pediatric dentist, who answered his cell phone on the 2nd ring and listened calmly while I explained what had happened, arranged to meet us at his office in 20 minutes. On a Sunday. Amazing.) The dentist checked and said that none of the other teeth were loose, his jaw was intact, the teeth had come completely out without fracturing, and there was likely no damage done to the forming adult teeth. He said that putting the teeth back in wouldn't work, and while there are prosthetics they are mostly for the benefit of the parents and the kids don't need them.

So that's it. We wait while his gums heal over (looking like a festering mess in the meanwhile) and then do nothing. His adult teeth will come in about 3 years and until then my boy will have the ultimate gap tooth smile. Our only concern is that he will develop a speech impediment, but we will just have to wait and see.

Parenting is such a mixed bag. There are the joyous moments, the tiring moments, and the "oh my god, is my child alright" moments. Those are usually few and far between, although they come too often with Buddy. I feel like even if I could keep my eyes on him every second of the day he would still get into scrapes, and it breaks my heart a little bit every time he does. It's all part of the package.

It makes me wonder how my parents ever made it through!