A Tale of Teething

There are lots of painful experiences for the human body, but one that appears especially torturous is teething. No wonder we don't remember it!

Here is a typical interaction with my sweet little Teether:

Me: "Oh honey, I know what will make you feel better. I am so smart that I got you some frozen fruit. You will love it and it will solve all your problems."

Arli grabs the fruit and jams it in her mouth, right on the spot where a new tooth is cropping up. That lasts about 20 seconds and she starts flapping her arm. I know this means it's going on the floor.

I take it from her hand and cut it up into pieces. That should do it. I put it in a nice bowl and sit down at the table. I try to feed them to her, but she wants to do it herself. She grabs a handful.

Me: "You can't eat all of those or you will choke. One at a time, sweet pea."

Arli crams them all in her mouth super fast. She chokes, gags and then cries. At least I know there's air moving. I hold her and pat her back.

When she calms down I try to give her one piece. She smashes it in her fingers, then grabs the bowl before I can stop her and dumps it on the ground face down, of course. Then she starts to cry, loud and unstoppable.

This happens about 100x a day. I pray for fortitude. She doesn't even have half her baby teeth yet.