Tales of a Teething Toddler
For those readers who have yet to experience interacting
with a teething toddler, allow me to paint a vivid picture for you. For those readers who have already experienced
this, especially with their own children, allow me to bring you back to those
days, if only to commiserate with my plight.
For those readers who are currently in the exact same position I am: I
am very, very sorry.
Our day begins as usual. We awake to the alarm on our phones
reminding us countless times that we should not continue to press the snooze
button. We get out of bed and shuffle our way to the bathroom to brush our
teeth. And so the day is underway for my husband & I. We get dressed. He
feeds our newborn that has begun to stir from his deep sleep. I make my way to
the kitchen to pack lunch bags, diaper bags, and make a quick breakfast.
Down the hall comes the voice of our almost 2 year old, Joel.
“Where are you?” he yells. He then mumbles something that only he understands,
as his language skills are still developing. My husband finishes feeding the
baby, and makes his way to the back of the house. I fill Joel’s sippy cup 1/8
of the way with milk, and add the 1 teaspoon of IB Profren required to keep him
from suffering a terrible morning of pain.
As I prepare his sippy cup, I hear crying and screaming. It
starts. Joel cries out, “Nooooo!!!” He continues to shout out bouts of “Nooooo!”
mixed in with “Let gooooo!!.” and other such protests and screams. I hear
crying and my husband calming yet firmly saying, “Joel, calm down.” He
interrupts Joel’s rants and meltdowns with “Joel, stop. Joel- diaper [Indicating he needs a diaper change]” and
other such instructions. I make my way to Joel’s room. I see Joel thrashing
about on the changing table, red faced, sobbing, nose trickling and dripping
with snot, and panting for air. He sees me, reaches his hand out and pitifully
cries, “Mommy!!!” More sobbing ensues. My husband has only managed to change
his diaper through all the commotion.
We then tag team. I hand Joel his sippy cup and he gulps the little bit of milk he has. (I didn’t fill it up, because he won’t finish it and getting the medicine in his system is too important. Attempting to get the meds directly in his mouth with a syringe or cup is futile. He has expertly learned to spit that right back into the air or our faces. Even if we place it in his cheek or back of his mouth).
I help my husband wrestle, cajole, and soothe our son into his clothes. We clean him up. We walk him to the living room, and then shortly after walk him next door to my mother’s for the day. [Yes I know, I am lucky to have Mom next door!]
This morning meltdown is only one of many he will have today. He will be cranky, clingy, irrational, and frustrated. He will have bouts of happiness when the medicine kicks in and he’s had a nap. My mother gets to enjoy this phase. My husband & I will not. Joel will refuse food all day, because it just hurts too much to chew. Unfortunately, because hunger is now being added to his afflictions, he will be even crankier and more emotional this evening. Then, when we pick him up after work, he will make the morning routine feel like a walk in the park compared to our evening shift. Dinner time, bath time and bedtime will leave my husband and I drained beyond belief.
When he was younger- he may have possibly felt as terrible while teething. But he wasn’t as big, strong, and vocal as he is now. And he wasn’t teething his 2nd molars. (I thought the 1st set of molars were bad!)
I love my son. He is one of the best things to ever happen
to our family. He usually has a sunny disposition and a phenomenal smile. But I
can honestly say that experiencing the teething process with a toddler has been
far from a pleasant phase to enjoy.
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