Skeptic Turned Believer

If you've talked to me for longer than five seconds, you know teething and Tory do not mix. For the last year, she's dealt with the near constant irritation of teething.

I know everyone has their own beliefs about teething. (Does it rear its ugly head with physical symptoms? What medicinal / homeopathic remedies work best, if any, in dealing with the pain?) I'm not about to stir up a heated discussion on the matter but I do know, based on my sole parenting experience, Tory's teething goes on for weeks. Her symptoms include drooling, rosy cheeks, diarrhea, severe diaper rash and poor sleep. Mostly, I feel horrible watching her go through it all. I've tried everything from cold washcloths to chew on, doses of Tylenol and natural teething tablets with little relief. Ultimately, we both learned to soldier through the pain (her: the symptoms above; me: the sleepless nights, dealing with an extremely fussy, demanding, clinging toddler) and hope the end was soon in sight.

But! We've found something that seems to help. Months ago, Andi purchased Tory an amber teething necklace for teething pain. I was too apprehensive to put it on her, worried it might choke her at 7 or 8 months old, and threw it in the back of my nightstand drawer. A few months ago, I found it and decided to give it a try.

Tory has been wearing the necklace since January and has gained three canine teeth in the meantime with no teething symptoms. Granted, I realize she's now 18 months old and may be able to tolerate teething pain more than she could as an infant. However, she hasn't experienced any of the other teething symptoms in the last few months so I honestly believe the necklace helps. I'm a skeptic turned believer!

I truly forget she's wearing the necklace until someone makes a comment about her wearing it. The other day at her 18 month well-child visit, the doctor said "oh Tory, you're wearing a necklace, how fancy!" I didn't feel like going into details about its teething powers, so I just smiled and let the moment pass by. The necklace doesn't seem to bother Tory one bit. She wears it almost 24/7 except for in the bathtub and asks for it to be put on again when she's done. I don't know how long I'll let her wear it, but I do know I'm a bit nervous to take it off and experience another round of terrible teething.

Teething's a Real B

Lordy, teething stinks in the worst way. Grrrrr.

Tory had a solid six weeks of consistently sleeping through the night and let me tell you, it was glorious. I'll always remember fondly the age of 12 1/2 - 14 months. Late September through October, you were the best. How quickly I forgot the feeling of sandpaper eyeballs and the motivation to do anything above and beyond sitting my behind on the couch during nap time. Tory's cutting her one-year molars and her sleeping-through-the-night track record has taken a nose dive. Except, it's almost worse than it was a few months ago because she can walk now and wiggle right out of my arms when I attempt to soothe her back to sleep. Gone are the days when I'd just cozy her and I up in a blanket and hunker down in the rocking chair. Now she fights me with all she's got, kicking her legs and screaming bloody murder because she does not want to go back to sleep at 3:00am. It's happened that way twice this week and it's painful for both of us.

To make matters worse, Andi's been putting in 15-18 hour days the last two weeks, so I feel like he needs his sleep when he's home. I try my best to quiet Tory with all the tricks I know, but she is flippin' cranky in the night. On Wednesday, I literally threw my hands up and watched her flop like a fish on the floor, tantruming like a crazy lady, because I seriously did not know what to do for her. Sometimes I just want to shout, I'm only trying to help you, kid! Andi walked out into the living room and sort of gave me a look like, "what is going on out here?" and I felt embarrassed that I couldn't keep her in check. Randomly, Chloe came up and licked Tory on the hand and that's what distracted her enough to stop crying. Toddlers, man.

I get that Tory's the one really in pain here (because I can function on no sleep, right? I did it for whole first year of her life.) and I do feel bad for her. She's got a big ol' swollen lump on her gums where the tooth is about to pop through. Drool is pouring out of her mouth and today I even thought about putting a bib on her because her chin was seriously that wet with slobber. At least the diaper rash has gotten better. We're blowing through a tube of $8 diaper paste every three days to keep it at bay.

I really have no point to this story other than to say I'm exhausted and I'm going to bed at 8:30 pm on a Friday. Real happenin' life I lead around here. Andi's working tonight and as I solo-parented this evening, I struggled to stretch out our night to Tory's 7:00pm bedtime.

You know mama's tired when I resort to bathtub play.

The Teething Saga Continues

What one little girl loses, another one gains.

Yesterday after much pain and suffering, Tory's second tooth finally poked through her sore little gums. My poor baby has been drooling, battling diarrhea, fever, diaper rash and restless sleep all thanks to her new little chomper. She now has two tiny teeth on the bottom center of her mouth (or she will, once the second one grows in a bit).

Coincidentally, my niece Brookie lost her second tooth - the exact same one as Tory gained! - yesterday as well. Remember how these two girls gained/lost their first tooth on the same day last month? Crazy. It's like their teething cycles have synced up or something.


Bring it, Tooth Fairy!

 The upside for Brookie? Another quarter from the tooth fairy.

For Tory? More sharp puppy teeth to bite Mommy and Daddy. Ouch!