Happy Bloody St. Patrick's Day

This morning Preston slept in until 8:30. I should have known something was up. He was cranky and whiny. Not his usual self.

After breakfast we played on the living room floor- puzzles, books, Little People, Curious George- the usual. He finally seemed like 'Preston' and started toddling around this way and that. Walking over and banging on the sliding kitchen door. Taking measuring spoons and spatulas out of the drawers. Typical P. Except he kept falling.

Stand. Step. Fall. Repeat. Which is completely odd, since he's pretty stable in his sock-feet. He was all wobbly and weak-kneed. Kind of like a newborn foal. Take two steps....man down. Get up...fall backwards...man down. Call me crazy, but I know it's because of his terrible haircut (see previous post). I can only equate this situation to that of a cat whose whiskers have been cut. Preston's equilibrium is off.

As expected, one of Preston's falls ended with a whimper. He looked up at me and there was blood streaming from his mouth. UNEXPECTED. His mouth, by the way, had a plastic water bottle lid sticking out of it. Not the kind off of a disposable water bottle, but a reusable water bottle...the ones with the spouts that pop up and down. Just great.

There weren't any tears. He wasn't crying. He just wiggled himself out from underneath the kitchen table, spat out the lid, and smiled. Have you ever seen a baby smile with a bloody mouth? It's not right. It's eerie on many levels, none of which I can explain.

It took nearly five attempts before I could actually see what was going on - the piece of skin between his front teeth (which are gapped slightly) was dangling. He'd ripped it AND tore back some of the gum on his front right tooth. Ugh.

I called the pediatrician's office and they told me not to worry. They rarely suture any mouth tear and explained why: "It's the worst place for a wound due to the all the blood flow in the mouth, making everything look a hundred times worse than it is. And because you use your mouth to eat and talk, it's also difficult to keep the wound from bleeding. But it's the best place for wound because it heals so quickly." The nurse also told me that if his teeth were lose, they would stabilize. Good gravy!

Can you say, freaked out?! I already have deep-seeded fears of Preston falling and knocking his teeth out. I have nightmares about my own teeth falling out. I'm just teeth-sensitive. And him being so unstable on his feet right now is not helping. I think it's time to put a bicycle helmet on the kid, and fit him for a mouth guard.

You are thinking I'm paranoid, right? But this is rational fear. And I must say it's warranted. After all, it's been nearly six hours since 'the incident', and Preston now has a scrape on his forehead, and a red bump over and under his right eye. All from falling. It won't be long before he smashes his mouth again.

Maybe I should put Preston in a bubble? It's the only way as far as I'm concerned. Either that or feed me green beer to calm my nerves.