Teething Pains!

Now as a parent of a toddler you probably think this post is about him, but no it's about Leila, now 5 years old and currently cutting her back teeth. Last night she had me up until 3am while she howled with pain. She had a sweetie at her nanny's house earlier and I could hear her screaming from our home, two doors away. I assumed she had a bad tooth and even went on the usual guilt trip, have I given her too many sweets. I do try to keep my kids diets healthy and as sugar and salt free as possible but it's hard to avoid, especially with fruit lovers. Leila and Cassie are the only children who have had fillings and problems. I felt really bad when Leila had her first filling at just 3 years old. I even suspected it may be down to pro-longed breastfeeding as she was just over two when we stopped. I do believe that sometimes it's down to the individual. My older kids dad had terrible mouth hygiene and ate whatever he felt like and never even had a toothache (well, apart from the time he hit himself in the mouth with an axe!!! seriously!) Yet, I've always been careful and had excellent hygiene, visited the dentist regularly and still ended up with fillings and extractions galore. My top front teeth are either veneers or crowns!
Anyway, I digress, lets get back to my little girl. I kept her home from school this morning so we could visit the dentist as an emergency. I got an appointment at 9.40am. We went along only to find out that their was nothing wrong, she was just having a tooth come through...she was TEETHING! So, I was a little embarrassed but the dentist was kind and we left with a sticker (for Leila) and told to use teething gel.
I've three children older than Leila and not one of them has had any problem cutting teeth after babyhood. Even then it's been pretty plain sailing for all of them, just a few rosy cheeks and dribble fests.
I took Leila to school after the dentist and when I picked her up her teacher said she had been moody all day, probably lack of sleep! She also pointed out that she thought Leila's jaw looked red and swollen. Oops, there comes that embarrassing moment when I have to explain it's a birth mark, gees you think the teacher would have noticed it before now, they've been at school six weeks!

Joseph is a Little Builder

By that I don't mean he's been playing with the Mega Bloks :-) Little Builders is the name of the pre-school he is now going to. Yesterday he spent an hour there and we waited with him. He had so much fun he barely noticed us. He fitted in straight away and even spent time going up to other toddlers and saying hello. We were in the playground outside at one point and Joseph was playing on a bike. A little girl had a bump with another boy and although it wasn't bad she started screaming. Joseph immediately jumped off his bike and went up to her and asked "you arright!" bless him.
Today he went at 12.30 and we left him there until 3pm. We were only there with him a couple of minutes and he was quite happy to say goodbye to us and let us go. When we went to pick him up, at first he didn't want to leave. The staff there said he'd been really good and was quite happy being their alone.
Tomorrow he goes in at 9am until 2pm...eeek! No doubt he'll be fine again, but I missed him so much today, I'm not going to be so happy.
From next week he'll be attending every Wednesday afternoon and all day on Thursday and Friday.
I didn't do this with any of my other children, they all started nursery at 3 years old, apart from my eldest who I just bear to let go until he started school. I feel he is far too young at just 2 years to be leaving me. However, I've given it lots of thought and basically it's my selfishness that wants to keep him at home, I'm sure he will love going to pre-school. If at any point he doesn't love it then I will keep him home, I'm doing this for him not me. I've consoled myself by thinking that we still get two full days alone together (and two with the girls at the weekend) This time will be even more precious for me and I will surely make the most of it.
So that's it, my baby is growing up!