Teeth. TEETH!

Aki Bear has teeth coming in! I felt the first one on Monday evening. I checked three times because I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it because I hadn't noticed him being extra fussy or in pain. The next morning I felt a second tooth! I checked again under a brighter light and could see them; two little teeth lined up side by side flush with his pink gums. It looks like two pieces of clear glass pressed down into his gums. They aren't bright white like you'd expect. I'm sure as we see more they'll look more white - but for now we just see the tips breaking through! 

According to this article at Parenting dot com babies can get teeth as early as three months and as late as 14 months. The average time for teeth to appear is 6 months. I've read that, while rare, babies can be born with  a tooth or two. Aki Burrito is 5 months old, so he is just ahead of the curve on tooth having. In that same article they say that teeth usually come in pairs (how very boy scouty). Here is a timeline:

• 6 months: lower central incisors
• 8 months: upper central incisors
• 10 months: lower and upper lateral incisors
• 14 months: first molars
• 18 months: canines
• 24 months: second molars 

Looking back Aki had some of the symptoms. He had been drooling more, but maybe for a month and half prior. In the last several weeks instead of sucking on our fingers he would really chomp down. It seems like he enjoys nursing at night more. He was fussier or harder to get down to bed at night sometimes, where usually he would be down in one go. I don't know if this is a symptom, but I think it is: thrashing his head back and forth when he'd go down to sleep. I think it is one way for him to deal with the pain. He has been doing this for several weeks now and because of it he is getting a little bald spot on the back of his head. Now that he has a tooth I notice that he definitely is more fussy at night. He doesn't chomp down on our fingers in front any more (too painful maybe) but instead will chomp to the sides of where his teeth are. I noticed him touching his ear or to the front of his ear last night and that is a sign of teething because the pain in the jaw radiates to the ear canal. Poor baby. They say that once the first two come in that the pain gets easier to deal with. I hope that is the case. (Mike dreamt last night that the Bear smiled and he had two front teeth the size of Chiclets. Ha! I dread top and bottom teeth + nursing=owie nipples. But my nipples are like working man hands nipples now, they can take it. I'll definitely let y'all know about the first bite. Eeeeek!)

He still chews on Sophie the giraffe as well as some other chew toys. I think we will try the wet wash cloth trick (he loves chewing on the wash cloth when he takes a bath. Perhaps a frozen one will feel good on his gums. I've also put some Hylands teething gel on his gums which is a homeopathic remedy. I'll let you know if that seems to work. My friend Dr. Woo got Aki Bear this adorable little beige duck (see picture above.) Mike thought it was a donkey (?) and K thought it was a rat (?) It has a duck beak, people! Anyways, it's either a duck or a platypus. I call it Ducky or Bam Bam (because that is the company name that makes it.) It's the same idea as his cowstar where it's sorta like a mini, floppy blanky with a head, plus we slept with it while I was pregnant to get our scents all over it. The cowstar is a star and Ducky is a triangle, if I can remember correctly...head on one corner, and two little paws or duck feet on the other corners. The top of it's head is tied in a knot and the Bear LOVES chewing on that topknot. He has fallen asleep with Bam Bam's topknot in his mouth countless times. I asked K to leave it with him when he naps and she says he loves it, grabs it with both, unswaddled, hands and shoves it in his mouth. He still likes cowstar but it's harder for him to find cowstar's corners to get in his mouth. Bam Bam does the trick and I think it helps soothe his little gums and teeth.