No More Thumbs

My baby is being forced to grow up a little.  As most of you have probably heard by now, Alexa fell  a couple of months ago and hit her left maxillary tooth (yes, I totally just looked up the correct name for that tooth ;-) ) - basically, one of the front big ones on top.  She fell just right to hit only that one tooth (thankfully!), and at such an angle that it jammed the tooth back up into her little jaw.  It was not a pretty sight.  We checked her mouth right away and were convinced she had knocked it out and swallowed it (since we couldn't find it anywhere).  After keeping an eye out for it during diaper changes for several days, we just concluded we had missed it and it was gone.  To my amazement, several weeks later, I noticed a little white speck at the top of her gums!  At first, I figured it was a little chip that had somehow broken off and stuck in her gums, but after watching it a little longer, we realized that her entire tooth was moving around and slowing descending again!  Who knew that was even possible!
Since we had initially thought the tooth was gone, we didn't take her to a dentist.  but when it started making its reappearance, I thought it would be good to get it checked out.  Alexa wasn't the biggest fan of getting mouth x-rays taken (how many x-rays has her little body had to endure in her 21 months of life?!), but otherwise was a pretty good sport.  The dentist told us they would keep an eye on the little tooth and how it moves over the next 6 months, and will then decide whether it needs to be extracted or if it can stay until it falls out on its own.  However, she did suggest that we encourage Alexa to stop sucking her thumb, since the habit was likely putting pressure on the little tooth and thereby slowing/inhibiting its descent.  We didn't act on her advice immediately since she ended up getting sick, and then we knew we would be traveling.  But after we got back home and had another appointment, I figured it was time to bite the bullet and start breaking the habit. We put little bandaids on her thumbs and told her that she was all done putting them in her mouth.  She immediately understood -- I was amazed!  She never really tried to take the bandaids off, and the first couple of times when we told/reminded her not to suck her thumb, she cried with real sorrow.  Not defiantly or angrily, but with true sadness that that comfort was gone and no longer available to her.  After that, Alexa was an absolute star!  It took only about three days of helping her fall asleep at night and nap times until she figured out how to self-soothe again.  I was very relieved that we didn't have to take away her favorite little "he-se" (her Haeschen, or bunny), which she is very attached to and always uses to cuddle herself to sleep.  The one downside is that she has started having more night wakings, when she cries out and has trouble falling back to sleep sometimes without some pats on the back or getting water, but with time I'm sure she'll be back to her old sleeping self.  :-)  I couldn't have been more proud of her!!  Here are some pictures...

The night of the accident; the last picture I took of her with both of her little teeth in place.

The next day.  Poor baby. :( :(  (But you can tell, she was already over it, though her head did hurt for a day from the impact of the fall.)

Wow!  There's a tooth up in there!!  Starting to come back down, but you can see it's indented and, according to the dentist, fractured.

The process of thumb-weaning has begun.  Being tough and making it through life with bandaids on her little thumbs.

Not sure if this picture shows it well, but you can tell the tooth has come down significantly.

"See my band-aid?" BIG, BRAVE GIRL!!

Rhea Quote

At dinner tonight, we were having chuck roast with carrots and onions.  Recently, Rhea discovered that chicken meat comes from chickens, which means that the animal has to die in order for us to eat it.
So tonight: Rhea: "Mama, does this meat come from a bird?"
M: "No, this meat is from a cow. It's called 'beef'."
R, sucks in her breath, and says with great compassion: "Aww.  Who died it?"
M: "What?"
R: "Did somebody die it?  Who died the cow?"
M (didn't want to give the farmers too bad of a rap) : "Well, it's called a slaughterhouse.  It's a place where they kill the animals before we can eat them."
R, with heaviness: "Aww. That's so sad." *then immediately* "Where did the carrots come from?"
M: "From a garden."
R: with just as much sadness and compassion in her eyes: "Aaaww, that's so sad.  I thought they came from a cat." *then immediately, with lots of sparkle in her eyes* "What if we ate hay?!"

Get-Away: Family Time (continued)

Here are some more pictures of the fun the cousins (and their parents ;-) ) had together!  The only drawback was that we couldn't enjoy the pool more, but otherwise it was great and too short (as always).  (Though... at times we could've used a full-time nanny to help out with the littles. Hee hee. ;-) )

Watching an show one afternoon.  I think we need to stop having kids or get a bigger couch.

This is the performer of the bunch.  :)

But she probably takes a close second place.

Cool stud impressing the girls.

I've really enjoyed seeing their friendship grow over the years.

There was a little French baby at the French Market in Wheaton.  He'd make his grandpa proud in that little hat!

Some play time at the fountain

Watching the train go by

Strutting her stuff across the yard

A little quality Papa-daughter time on the swing

 Crazy sisters

 And... these two have found their match! :-)

 Westen "accidentally" fell into the pool with his clothes on.  His cousins thought it was HILARIOUS. :-)

Little guy needs some manly shades.  Anyone?

Fun meal times

Cool cousins

Lovely ambience

Fun park outings

 But even at a park you can take some time out to be pensive and cerebral. ;-)  (Sometimes I just wish I knew what was going on inside that little head...)

Ashton didn't think it was fair that the picnic was only for the big people, so he tried to sneak a sandwich.

 Happy to see that Mama had thought of him after all.  What more do you need?

The big boys got a chance to let their inner little boys out, too.

 Cute little buds

And then... the 6 hour delay getting out of the airport on our way home.  Ugh.  It was way longer than the pictures make it look.  Believe me.

Snacks.

 Electronics.

 Movies.

 Games

 More movies

 And... work.

(What did people do in situations like this before the advent of technology? Oh wait, there probably weren't airplanes then either, right? ;-) )

Rhea's Love

Rhea (realtime): "I love everyone in the world. I love you, Mommy, you're my special mommy in the whole wide world. I love Daddy too. Everyone in Texas. But I don't love monsters. Or ghosts. Ohhhh, I don't like ghosts. Oh, I HATE ghosts. I don't like them. Ugh. I don't like monsters, I don't like everyone that's mean, or I don't know."

At the Office

Lucia: "Rhea, let's play office!" as she sits down at a table with a toy computer.
L: "I'll be the officer!"  then: "What can I help you with today?"
R, handing over her baby doll: "I'd like you to watch my baby, please."
L: "No, I can't do that.  I can only use my computer to help you." ... "Should I look up what fans are made of?"
R: "Yeah!"
L: "Oh, it says 'fans are made of electricity.' "
R: "Oh. Ok.  Thanks.  Bye!"  ... "Now, can I be the officer?"

Get-Away Week 2: Family Time!!

This is proof that we did get some pool time, though tragically only one day of it.  Our first day in Chicago, it was perfect weather for a swim.  We were in the water before 9 a.m. and it was so refreshing from the heat and humidity that had already built up by then.
The rest of the stay, more or less, we wore long pants and occasionally light sweaters!

 This is my amazing two-year-old niece, Jaida -- she's a complete fish in the water!!  (Her cousins need to watch her some more...)

 Fun cousin time... just the beginning. :-)

 The cousins performed some water acrobatics.  Lucia, Rhea and Alexa made up the audience. :-)