We’re rolling into one full year with the Worm.  Just like the gnathostomiasis, he’s got teeth.  Unlike the gnathostomiasis though, our Worm doesn’t crawl into humans and devour them from the inside.  (Which could be a useful skill to have in your back pocket.)

We are a little concerned about the fact that he hasn’t cut more than 2 teeth yet.  We haven’t seen more than two teeth in his head for 6 months.  If the folklore is true about connection between teeth and wisdom, it makes sense why Worm kisses the sliding glass door.

The general rule is that babies cut the middle bottom teeth first.  This gives them the ability to bite the fleshy part of your fingertip at feeding time and cause pain.  This happens around 6 months of age.  After that, the baby will cut approximately one tooth a month.  (So, if do the math correctly, our baby should have 6 teeth, which is 4 more than what he’s got.)  As the rule goes, the next two that come through are the two top front teeth.  At this point, baby’s shredding power increases exponentially.  This quickly becomes a hazard if one is not paying attention while feeding a voracious eater.  If you look around, you will find a small percentage of parents waving a hand with only 3 or 4 fingers.  (Learn from their mistakes.  Don’t let this happen to you!)

Even though Gavin’s teeth are way behind his appetite for solid foods, we let him to try to eat things like bread, waffles, apples, papaya, bananas, dog toys, plastic bottles, Jenga blocks, etc.  He’s so curious about everything that we eat.  (Even more interesting is that for a baby who hasn’t seen much cuisine in his short life, he can differentiate food items from non-food items.  It could be a side effect of watching Food Network all day long, but I’m not certain.)  We’re willing to try to feed him almost anything.  Almost.

I think he’s still a few years away from the chomping capability of Cap’n Crunch cereal like his old dad.  But, we’ll get there.  (I warm up with Peanut Butter Crunch and exercise my incisors on Crunch Berries.) He can ruminate on the softer foods until he’s built up his jaw, teeth and gums for this pinnacle of crunchiness.  When the time comes, it will be a crowning (get it?) achievement his old man will be proud of!

A Gummy Grin!

Some of the things that babies do when they’re popping a new tooth:

  • Drooling
  • Crankiness and unusual irritability
  • Biting
  • Lack of appetite (because the teeth hurt!)
  • Problems sleeping
In my house, we find the new tooth first and say “Oh, that’s why little so-and-so was acting funny last week.”  It seems we’re always one step behind the baby…figuratively and literally.
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