The Phenomenon of Teething

I am never sure what is blogworthy, but my sister heard this story and said that I definitely needed to post it, so here it goes. I must preface this story by saying that Taylor is one of the happiest and most contented children I know. She is hardly ever fussy. The only time she gets fussy is if she doesn't feel well. For the last few weeks she has been teething and getting her molars in. She has her good days and bad days. For the most part it hasn't been too bad and teething tablets usually work right away, but if you mix teething pain on top of being tired, then you're in for a rough day. This just happened to be one of those days.

On Monday I had a meeting at church at 9:30. Taylor normally takes a nap at 10:30, but she missed it because the meeting lasted until almost 12:00 and she was being watched at the church along with other children much older than her. Usually she does okay if she misses her morning nap. She never gets one on Sundays. Usually she is just a little tired and then takes a longer nap after lunch. Well, she did great for the babysitter. After the meeting, the babysitter, who is a friend of mine, and I went to lunch. Her parents happened to be at the same restaurant where we were eating, so we sat at the booth just behind them. After they were finished eating lunch they came over and sat and talked with us for a few minutes. When my friend's dad got up to leave Taylor started wailing and the tears were pouring down her face. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was as if she didn't want John to leave. John had been talking to her and playing with her and she seemed to really like him. He has a beard and so does her grandpa, so maybe she was getting him confused with Grandpa. I am not sure what it was, but it took me a while to get her calmed down after they left. I got her out of her highchair and finished feeding her in my lap. I also gave her some teething tablets just in case her gums were hurting. Once she was done eating she was okay and ready to get down. She spotted an older woman who we frequently see at this restaurant (there are not many places to eat in Americus) and she went straight over to her and started "talking" to her. It was so funny. It was as if nothing had happened.

The story doesn't end here though. Taylor took a good nap when we got home, but when she got up I could tell that she still wasn't quite right. She fussed a little, so I thought maybe she was hungry. I set her little table and chair up in the living room and she sat there quietly and ate her snack. When she was finished she got up and tried to pick up her chair and move it. I don't know if it was just awkward for her or what bothered her but she got upset. I took her table and chair back into her bedroom and tried to distract her with toys. She played for a little while and fussed off and on. I finally gave her some teething tablets. I guess I should always do that first to rule it out, but for some reason I do it as a last resort. She was acting tired, so I tried to get her to go down for a second nap. By this time it was just too late and she wouldn't go to sleep. I decided to get her up and let her watch Praise Baby. That always calms her down. We have been having trouble with our DVR and had to leave it off for 24 hours, so I took her into our bedroom to watch it. She laid on the bed with me for the whole 30 minutes and watched Praise Baby. When it was over I turned the TV off and she started fussing again. I took her back into the living room and distracted her with toys and turned on the TV for some background noise to see if she would not fuss so much. She did okay, but the real turning point didn't come until later.

Would you know, that as soon as Daniel walked in the door everything changed. She always runs to the door when he comes in. It reminds me of myself when I was a little girl and would get excited when Daddy came home from work. She loves her daddy. He got down on the floor and tossed her around and she was happy and playful. It was like she had flipped a switch. I couldn't believe it. It was as if she had it in for me all day. She did good for the babysitter and was excited to see her daddy, but she wasn't happy with just mommy. I am sure that the teething has a lot to do with it, but it was interesting to me that she reacted the way she did. I guess she was feeling better.

Yesterday Taylor didn't seem as bothered by the teething as much as on Monday. She got an okay nap in yesterday morning. I tried to get her down for an afternoon nap but she wouldn't go to sleep. She would be quiet for a little while and then I would hear her talking and squealing. Then the fussing started. After about 30 minutes I went in to rock her some more and then put her back down for round 2. By this time it was after 3:00. She usually doesn't go down much past 2:30 and this day was not much different. She screamed for a little while and then silence. I thought it had worked, and it had. About 30 minutes later I heard her crying again. I went in to get her and she had been laying in vomit. I felt HORRIBLE!!! I immediately started cleaning her up. I gave her a bath and stripped the bed. After her bath and a snack she felt much better and was fine for the rest of the afternoon. I did check her temperature, which was normal, so I knew she only vomited because she got herself so worked up. She hasn't done that in a long time. Needless to say, I am ready for an uneventful day today.