Bye bye, baby teeth

Yesterday, Jesse lost a couple of his baby teeth. At the age of 3, one would think this was happening a little early for him. But in truth, these teeth did not come out naturally. Actually, they were knocked out in a fall he had yesterday.

Now I am not going to say who caused this fall. I don’t want the offender to be outed here. I don’t want to make this person look bad. The offender has been punished and already feels as guilty as it is about causing this to happen.

Anyway, yesterday morning, I was in the bathroom, getting ready to take a shower. The kids were in the house and hubby was in the kitchen, getting a cup of coffee. Jesse came into the bathroom, crying with blood dripping out of his mouth. He had blood on his hands and shirt.

I freaked!

I cried out to Jennifer to get her father and they came rushing into the bathroom. Hubby took over and assessed the situation while I cleaned up the blood on the floor.

On the floor was a tooth. There was another tooth on Jesse’s hand. His two front teeth had been knocked out.

Hubby told me to call the dentist to find out what to do and I got on the phone while he took care of Jesse. But before I could actually type their number into the box for relay, the offender came up to me crying and explaining what had happened. How Jesse had lost his teeth. I was shocked and horrified. I even screamed, “He’s just a baby!” Of course, this didn’t help the offender feel any better. I told said person to go somewhere else, I was too angry and upset to talk to that person right now. I was riveted! I was also on the verge of tears. Why did this happen to my baby? I kept wiping away the tears as I tried to focus on the phone call.

I called the dentist and they told me to bring Jesse in right away. Hubby got Jesse's mouth cleaned up and he told me to change Jesse’s clothes while he got ready, because he was going to take Jesse to the dentist himself. So I took Jesse into his room and we both picked out some new clothes for him to wear. After he was dressed and hubby was ready, they went out to the garage and got the car seat from the truck and into hubby’s car. I double-checked that hubby had the teeth with him before they left. I watched as they left, my heart sunk. I felt just terrible for Jesse and hoped he wasn’t in too much pain.

At the same time, though, I couldn’t stop thinking that I’d been here before. When Jennifer was 7 years old, she was at a friend’s birthday party and in all the fun and excitement of the kids playing, a boy accidentally kicked her in the mouth and knocked her two front teeth out. There was the blood, the tears, the shock, the pain. Just as Jennifer had lost her two front teeth in an accident, Jesse had, too. I only prayed it wasn’t his permanent teeth that were lost.

After they got back from the dentist, hubby told me that Jesse had not suffered any serious damage. They were his baby teeth and that Jesse didn’t need any pain medicine. As to the teeth, it looked like Jesse was going to get his very first visit from the tooth fairy. I was so relieved he was going to be okay. The whole time they were gone, I was shocked and trying to keep myself together.

Since Jesse is too young to have money, he got a toy car from the tooth fairy. He’s been playing with it all morning. He seems to be fine.

Eating is another matter, though. At first, he would not eat at all yesterday. As it was, the only thing he would accept at dinner was a kernel of corn. (I did make something soft for dinner. Looks like I will be making him soft foods for a while! It’s a good thing he loves yogurt.) This morning, he ate part of a doughnut and a Nutri-Grain bar. That was about it. I am hoping he will be okay to eat without trouble at mealtimes. l am glad that a lot of the things he likes are soft foods: Peanut butter sandwich (without the crust and cut into squares), yogurt, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup. He also like hot dogs and he eats them cut up. I wonder how that’ll work for him. (He’ll probably figure out to chew food on the side if he can’t chew it in the front.) I am hoping we can coax him to eat a little more today, but if it’s pain that’s preventing him from eating, I’ll have to either call the dentist or give him Tylenol. Or both.

This week, Jesse is being kept home from preschool. (During the summer, he has been going there twice a week.) This was something hubby wanted. I think Jesse’s fine and should be okay at the school, but I have to respect hubby’s feelings on this. After all, this is his little boy. So Jesse is home this week.

And the offender will be at home all week, too. No playdates or going to a friend’s house. Unlike Jennifer’s experience, this time around the situation could have been avoided. Granted, the offender probably did NOT do what was done with the intention of knocking Jesse’s teeth out, but that is just one of the things that can happen to someone when something like that is done to them, and I hope that message is not lost on that person. On top of this, I don’t condone violence. I will NOT have violence in my home. I grew up in a violent home and I will NOT let the same thing be said about my children. NO VIOLENCE. Period.

Hopefully, everything about this experience will ensure that won’t happen again.