Teeth

This morning I finally felt what we've all been waiting for in this house...a top tooth!  Actually, I'm not sure that we've all been waiting for it on pins and needles, but I've been wondering nonetheless.  Aria has been a late teether to say the least.  I actually first thought she was teething right around 3 months of age.  That is when the constant drool began.  She also had about a week where she was really fussy about eating and I thought it must be because of teeth.  Well, 7 months after that, Aria got her first tooth!  Our constant drool faucet was just that, a drool faucet.  We got so many comments from random strangers, family, and friends about how she 'must be working on a tooth' since she drooled so much, but she never did.  In fact, she stopped her drooling around 8 months and didn't even slobber a drop when her first 2 teeth came at 10 months (just in time for Thanksgiving)!  And since then we've been waiting and wondering when the next ones would come.  At about 15 months Aria got another bottom tooth.  And now she is getting her fourth bottom tooth and her two top teeth all at once! 

I actually think it is quite lucky that she has been slow to get teeth.  I've been told late teethers have healthier teeth.  I have only recently began brushing her teeth on a consistent basis (which also introduced the game of hide and seek but that's another story).  And, I honestly think she handles it better than if she would have gotten a tooth at 3 months.  Aria seems to have a pretty high pain tolerance anyway, but it is nice that we have good sleeping and eating habits established before the teeth came in to mess them up.  I've heard nightmarish stories about teething and I really don't have any to share yet, other than some nasty diaper rash.  Maybe it will come once the molars and incisors start to come, but for now we'll just enjoy the 3 soon to be 6 teeth we've got!  I do admit it is funny to see the looks on the faces of people with children much younger than Aria when I explain their child has way more teeth!  They almost always ask if it is difficult to feed her things, but not at all.  She eats most things.  I probably break things up a bit more than moms with full mouths of teeth, but that doesn't really bother me.  Aria will get her teeth when they come and I'm not going to stress about it.  It's not like it's a developmental issue or I have any control over it.  However, it will be interesting to see if she turns out like me.  I was a late teether, which also meant losing my baby teeth late.  Apparently it was a travesty in our house when I didn't lose any teeth in kindergarten or first grade when kids got cool prizes for losing teeth.  Nope, mine came out in second grade when prizes for missing teeth were no longer cool.  I also distinctly remember yanking as hard as I could on my teeth to get them out, just to say I lost a tooth.  I guess we'll cross those bridges when we get there!  And for an adorable, toothyless grin....