Teeth

I am NOT a teeth person. What does that mean, you may ask. Well, I get extremely troubled by the thought of bleeding gums or loose teeth or- the worst- getting teeth knocked out or chipped. I used to have NIGHTMARES about my teeth falling out. I don't mean once in a blue moon- I mean EVERY night to the point I would dread falling asleep because I knew my teeth were going to fall out in my "dream world". I've always been a "grinder" while I sleep and I would dream and clench my jaws and grind away and dream the only way to unlock my jaws was for my teeth to fall out- which they would do. It was horrible and it went on for way too long. I think I read once that dreaming about losing your teeth is a sign of underlying stress. Looking back, it probably was. I let go of some things in my life and haven't had those reoccurring dreams in some time. I do, however, have the random dream where I lose a tooth and it is quite disturbing. Its always killed me to see people on the news so willing to talk about an event on camera without all of their "important"- FRONT- teeth. If I needed new teeth and money were tight I would rob a bank if I had too- but I'd be sitting in jail with ALL of my teeth! Just kidding. But seriously, I just can't imagine walking around without all of my teeth- the thought kills me. So, I say all this to explain that I really have issues about teeth (or the lack thereof), among the other issues I probably have! Well, my husband, the Paramedic who sees all kinds of blood and guts and horrendous accidents, also is not a teeth person. There are two things he is squeamish about- puke and teeth. Our poor children are pretty much thrown to the wolves when it comes to pulling teeth. Now, Alyssa is the only one who is at the point of losing teeth, but she is on her own! She lost her 7th tooth this morning and for the 7th time she pulled it herself. Of course, she wouldn't have wanted us to do it anyway, but I'm just saying... Anniston might but I'm afraid that will be too bad. You know that lady/teacher in elementary school that was sort of the unofficial "official tooth puller"? Well, our girls will have to go to her! So, tonight the tooth fairy gets to visit our house. Its been almost a year since her last visit. It seems Alyssa hit a slow period on tooth losing. While Anniston is quickly approaching the "snaggle tooth all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" stage Ayden Claire is just trying to get her full set of baby teeth in. She has had the bottom two teeth since she was eight months old and the two top side (not front, weird huh?) teeth followed. Finally, after a couple of months the front top two came in and that's been it for about 6 months. But over the past month or so she's been getting the back molars which seems to be horribly painful. They are huge teeth in her little baby mouth and sharp and jagged and have taken forever to come through completely. The top molars are still pushing their way through and hopefully soon she'll be pain free from teething. She's a trooper though and hardly complains. And, on the bright side, she was able to enjoy cubed steak with us the other night because she had teeth to chew it with! Here are some pictures of the girls teeth/missing teeth.