toothless

dear little leah, 

um, i'm sure you're aware, but you grind your teeth. a lot. 

i'm sure it's more annoying and painful to you than it is to anyone else {and that's saying something because it's extremely annoying and painful to me and your dad...} but the grinding got so bad that you actually perforated your left front tooth, causing it to abscess. 

this had to hurt! and it had to be taken care of. 

so, off to the dentist you went, to get checked out and x-rayed {may 3rd}. eventually, it was decided that both front teeth would be pulled as the right front tooth was on the same path and would need to be pulled in a month or two anyway. 

when extraction day came {may 9th} you were oh so brave in the dental chair. dr. bachner was great and you loved kenny the kangaroo, who showed you everything that was being going to be done on you on his own teeth first. that was nice of him. 

daddy was also brave. he held you tight and kept you safe the entire time. 

i was not so brave. i'm blaming it on billy, but i had to turn away and let the tears stream down my face. the long needle with the novocaine has never bothered me - but then again i've never had to see it pierce my child before.

  

other than a few tears, we all came out unscathed. and you got some extra ice cream out of it, so i think it turned out okay. 

oh yah, and the tooth fairy came. that was pretty fun too.

thanks for being so brave, miss monkey. you really are the best. 

love, 

mommy