First Tooth...or should I say teeth?

For MONTHS I have been writing off any fussiness with Patriot or hiccup in schedule to 'teething'. Seriously, since he was about 3 1/2 or 4 months old he exhibited all of the classic teething signs from crazy drooling and rubbing everything on his gums for days at a time. Some say Patriot has a little flair for the dramatic (like his mom?) so my guess is he has been setting the stage for this momentous event for quite a while.

It all went down 3 weeks ago tonight (1/7/08). That Monday night Patriot had a weird crying fit that ended in bleeding gums. All we can figure is that he bumped his sore gums with a toy or had a little blood blister that popped as his teeth were on their way up to break the gum line. I checked for a tooth at that point, but nothing yet. So, the next morning I dropped him off for his weekly visit to Mother's Day Out. He smiled and blew me a razzberry as I left, seemingly well adjusted. About an hour later I realized I missed a call on my cell, but before I can check the message, the same # calls again. Suddenly I'm speaking directly with the Mother's Day Out Coordinator, who says they have been trying to calm Patriot down for the entire time I've been gone and nothing is working. Thoughts flood my mind as I rush (safely drive, I mean, mom:) to the church. Is he sick? Is he hurt? I wish he could talk! Did I eat something that didn't agree with him? AHHHHH!!!

By the time I arrived Patriot was at the point of just shuddering and looking bleary eyed, but was no longer crying. As soon as his teacher handed him over, he immediately looked relieved and began trying to use my hand as a teething toy (better than anything we can buy in stores and sometimes just as sanitary!). Ouch! I looked down to see what had so sharply poked me and realized that Patriot bit me with his first tooth!!! After a more thorough inspection I confirmed to his much relieved teachers that his bottom middle tooth on the right side had popped thru. Moments later he was once again blowing razzberries, but I decided we had enough excitement for one day and we headed home.

That afternoon he took a three hour nap, whew! Then the process started over again as the second bottom tooth (left side) began it's accent and popped thru the gum line on Wednesday morning. It was very difficult to get a picture of these two gems at first, but now he proudly shows them off:)

PS. i normally don't post pix of my kid in freshly spit-up upon clothes, but the teeth shot outweighed cleanliness this time! this was the best out of the shoot!