Parenting Is Not For The Faint Of Heart.

Just one month after my 7 year old son's elbow has healed from a roller skating fracture, he comes running up the porch steps crying with a bloody mouth. He is surrounded by an emergency response team of kids all telling me at once what happened. Apparently, he was trying to pop a wheelie on his scooter and hit his mouth on the metal handle bar - ouch!

I manage to get my son inside and close the front door before my Jack Russell Terrier escaped into the nooks & crannies of our neighborhood. I sit my son down on a nearby overstuffed chair and grab a wet wash cloth, trying to comfort him and assess the damage. He has his fingers to his mouth and is shaking uncontrollably and is wailing in both fear and pain.

I get the sense that someone is watching us beyond my 3 year old and 5 year old who are asking over and over again what happened. I look to my left and see the ER team of kids with their noses pressed to glass of the front door, struggling to see what's happening inside our home. Finally, I get a look inside my son's mouth to see that he has lost the top 1/4 of his permanent bottom tooth. Chipped it right off.

Yes, parenting is not for the faint of heart.

Cut to today - we just returned from the dentist where my son had an x-ray and all looked well with the tooth's structure. He did indeed chip off the top and lost some enamel. Our dentist suggested just smoothing it out for now, until the rest of his teeth have a chance to grow in and cosmetically fixing it later, perhaps even after braces some day.

On the bright side, my son was very happy that he did not have to have a shot in order to have a filling. He has also admitted, however, there was a part of him that really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to finally have a real gold tooth. Since when is my child into bling??!!

Ah, yes...parenting is not for the faint of heart! :-)