Baby Teeth (and Diapers) Done… Check!
I understand that I lucked out. I missed the teething stage with the days of non-stop crying. I came on the scene right at the tail end of diapers with all the… well, you know. Ah, timing is one of the perks of being a step-dad. You get to miss a lot of the ‘good’ stuff.
When I first joined Maggie and the girls, in order to fit in more quickly I picked out and assigned some cute pet names for each of my ladies – terms of endearment I believe they are called. The little one’s nickname became Pumpkin’ Head. It was a bit premature at the time as she was just past two years old and already had her full complement of baby teeth.
To be honest, the appellation didn’t stick. I can’t remember when I last called Ambrosia Pumpkin’ Head. Nowadays we refer to her as the ‘Little Monkey’. However, we’re considering taking the original moniker out of the mothballs as her baby teeth start exfoliating.
Trouble With Baby Teeth
Russy the baby teeth puller
The complaints began about two weeks ago. Ambrosia, already a very slow eater, was barely picking at her food, protesting that her mouth hurt. I thought she was just looking for attention, so I did what any normal step-dad would do… I deferred the ‘problem’ over to Maggie! Together, the two ladies confirmed that there was indeed a teensy-weensy little wiggle in one of Ambrosia’s baby teeth – a wiggle totally imperceptible to indifferent step-dads.
Maggie looked up at me and as so often happens, instantly I intuitively knew what she was thinking, “Who is going to pull the baby teeth out when the time comes?” Of course, I did the normal step-dad thing.
Hey, come on! What did you expect? 
I don’t do crying. I believe that’s a normal step-dad trait… we simply aren’t equipped to cope with crybabies.
So Who’s Gonna Pull Those Baby Teeth?
The first of Ambrosia's baby teeth
What happened next only added fuel to my anticipated fear. Maggie regaled Ambrosia and I with stories of how she handled Suvin’s baby teeth – by bringing her to the dentist! She said she didn’t have the guts to pull teeth the way she remembered her father extracting her own teeth. Maggie’s vivid, if not totally morbid descriptions, replete with heart-wrenching screaming and bloody gore, reminded me not only of all the reasons why I don’t do crying, but also that I don’t do blood either!
Meanwhile, the poor Little Monkey/Pumpkin’ Head is sitting there – eyes virtually popping out - contemplating her fate. She now had a stream of questions about her baby teeth that demanded immediate answers. Her food, now too cold to eat, would have to wait for another day.
About a week passed with moaning and whining continuing daily about sore teeth. Somehow, this seemed to make it OK to pick over food more slowly than ever. (I’ve noticed that kids know how to milk a tactic for all it’s worth when they discover how well it works) However, even THIS insensitive step-dad could now see that there was indeed a wiggle – OK, admittedly even a waggle – in one of Ambrosia’s baby teeth.
Maggie and I glanced at each other again, knowing full well what the other was thinking. We still hadn’t come to any mutual agreement on the multitude of impending baby teeth questions such as who, what, when, where and how!
POP! Goes the Baby Teeth
Ambrosia's baby teeth
Then it happened!
“Russy!”, Ambrosia called from the kitchen.
I had just returned to my computer work while she was still plodding away at her pizza lunch. Usually I like to finish meals together so I can clean up all the dishes at the same time. Lately, I just didn’t have the patience to wait that long. Ambrosia’s call had a sense of urgency to it so I rushed to the kitchen to assess the situation. I saw her holding something up between her thumb and forefinger. My initial thought was, “What the heck did she find in her food to complain about NOW?”
“Look”, she said proudly. “It’s my TOOTH!”
Immediately I felt a rush of relief. My worst step-dad premonitions of pinning down a screaming, terrified little girl – blood gushing out all over the floor as I yanked at her baby teeth with my vise grips – had failed to materialize. So much for self-fulfilling prophesies… for now! After all, there are still 19 baby teeth left! YIKES!!!
All together now, you gotta Love That Feeling!
Baby Teeth FYI
- Other names for baby teeth are, deciduous teeth (that’s the official term), milk teeth, primary teeth and temporary teeth.
- There are a total of 20 baby teeth:
- 4 central incisors
- 4 lateral incisors
- 4 canines
- 4 first molars
- 4 second molars
- Baby teeth begin developing during the embryonic stage of development and show around the 6th month of infancy. Around age six, the permanent teeth begin pushing down on the baby teeth roots. Eventually , 32 permanent teeth completely replace the baby teeth.
That was sooo cute.
I can’t believe I missed that! I do remember Mom bringing me to the dentist… I didn’t like that. I used to squeeze her hand while Dr. Hui yanked. However, it was never as gory as Mom probably described… but then again you know how she likes those horror movies and scaring people…
Miss you guys!