The Tooth Fairy is playing a mean trick

Wednesday has been quite an eventful day. This will probably be the longest post I've entered so far. Ava woke up kinda grumpy this morning. It's that parent intuition when you know your child isn't feeling quite herself. We resumed with our morning routine, Daddy gets the kids dressed and fed and Mommy drops them off to the daycare and we both head to work. By 9:30 a.m. I recognize the phone number displayed on the screen panel, it's the daycare.

Ms. Denise is reporting that Ava has been crying all morning and is inconsolable no matter what they do to pre-occupy her. Ava is also running a body temperature of 99.5. I don't have a logical reason why Ava is acting differently. I proceed to tell Ms. Denise that Ava did wake up in a "funk" this morning and I hope she's not coming down with something. I try not to alarm the teacher but I did tell her that I was sick last week and tested positive for strep throat but have been on antibiotics since Thursday. Of course all these crazy things are running wildly through my head like what if Ava has strep, hand, foot, mouth disease or the fifth disease? We received notification that the daycare has been hit with all three illnesses this week. That's probably where I contracted my strep throat!

Meanwhile Ava is hanging on Ms. Denise's leg and sobbing. I can hear her over the phone. I asked Ms. Denise if she could please keep an eye out for Ava and if "it" worsens or if her temperature goes up, to please give me another call. I hate putting it like that because the daycare has this silly policy. The teachers are instructed to notify the child's parents for EVERY little slight thing that happens to their child. For example, The caller starts out by saying over the phone, "Hi, this is so and so. Ava is all right but we have to call you because another child bit her while she was trying to take a toy from the other child." or "Hi, we just have to let you know, Ava bit another child because the other child's hand got in the way of Ava's mouth." Or, "Hi, we just wanted to report that Ava is acting unusual today and you might want to have her checked out with the doctor."

I have one little complaint about this notification "rule". Okay, so my child gets bitten a lot. What toddler DOESN'T bite? They are at the prime biting age. Heck, I remember when Sebastian went through a biting stage himself. In fact, he was at the very same daycare facility that they are both in right now. Except back then, they didn't implement the new rule of notifying parents. I would just pick up Sebastian every day and he would have a new fresh set of teeth marks on his arm or I would have to sign an "incident report" because he bit another child. Now, the parents complain if their child is bitten by another child. They actually COMPLAIN to the teachers. It's a liability now. I mean come on....get real! Of course, if it was my first child and I'm the inexperienced parent, I may "over react" a little. But now that I have my second child, and already went through the biting phase, I don't even blink twice. They DO outgrown the biting stage and they DO survive the toddler years unscathed and mentally intact.

Lately, it seems like I've been getting a weekly call from the daycare. Every time I see the daycare's number flashing on my phone, I think "okay, now what?" It gets to a point that I'm so paranoid. I mean, what if Ava is REALLY hurt, or sick? Am I a bad mother because I missed all the signs in the morning? So when I told Ms. Denise to watch her temperature, they do just that. They will take her temperature every hour, on the hour. If her temperature reaches 99.9, they call me to have Ava picked up and she cannot return to the daycare until she is fever free for 24 hours. I also asked Ms. Denise to give me a call after Ava's nap to see if she went down quickly and how long she slept. She was fine with my request.

By 11:45, I receive another call from Ms. Denise. She was reporting that Ava hardly ate anything for lunch and she went right down for nap. Also, Ava's temperature was now 99.8. I try not to hit the panic button because I don't want to think the worse....what if I gave Ava my strep??? I ask for Ms. Denise to give me a call after her nap and if her temperature goes up, I'll call the pediatrician to get an appointment. You know Ava is NOT feeling well when she doesn't eat! I worry some more. I feel guilty that I left her there in such misery.

At 2:25, I get the third call from Ms. Denise. She said that Ava woke herself because she was crying and wouldn't go back to sleep. Her temperature is now 105! I said I'd be there within the hour. I call Michael. I call the doctor. Michael says he's going to meet me at the doctor's office because he would like to know what's going on with Ava.

I arrive at the daycare. Ava's eyes are all red and my heart sinks because she really doesn't look well. But as I go to pick her up in my arms, I notice that she doesn't feel like she has a fever of 105. But no matter, I have to find out what's going on at the doctor's. This is a short work week and I don't want my kids to be sick over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The kids are in the car. Sebastian asks for a snack. I hand him a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of pretzels. Ava starts whining because she wants what Sebastian has. I tell Sebastian to put some pretzels in a cup because I don't want Ava to pass her "germs" on to him in case she does have strep. But I'm thinking, there's no way she'll eat those pretzels. I'm just giving her some so she will calm down. She's CHOMPING on the pretzels! This I find VERY peculiar. Last week when I had strep, my throat was on fire and my neck felt so swollen that I could barely drink water or swallow any pills. Of course at the time, I didn't know I had strep. I just thought I had really bad allergies. Except for the body aches...I knew something was up.

We arrive at the doctor's office. The doctor examines her. No red throat, lungs sound okay, ear's are clear except for the ball of wax the doctor removed from her right ear, no white bumps on her tongue, no rashes and no fever. Diagnosis: she must be TEETHING. She's breaking in two more teeth, that is cause for the low grade fever and irritability! We're so glad it was a "false alarm". But after three phone calls...all my common sense and maternal instincts went out the window. Then I realized in my panic mode to call the doctor and leave work, I totally misunderstood Ms. Denise's statement about Ava's temperature. I thought she said her temperature was 105, not 100.5! She said 100 and 5. I took it for 105!! Okay, so I'm a typical, hyper, over reactive, panic stricken Mommy.

On the way home, I call the daycare to let them know the diagnosis and that Ava WILL be returning in the morning with a doctor's note saying she may return. I pull in the driveway with a hugh sigh of relief. So, to explain my post heading, "Tooth Fairyis playing a mean trick", in the month of June, Ava has sprouted six teeth and my seven year old boy cannot seem to lose a single baby tooth. I know that each child loses their teeth at different paces. But most of Sebastian's friends have lost at least four or five teeth already. Sebastian had two front teeth on the bottom that have been loose for the past three weeks. They won't budge because he's afraid to wiggle them to loosen them up more. The other day I was flossing his teeth when I noticed that one of his adult teeth has broken through and is growing behind his front baby teeth. I have a feeling that once Sebastian loses his tooth, he will have a bunch that will start loosening up and the Tooth Fairy will have a field day with him! She's already given Ava a run for her money ;-)


Say "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"














Another smiley face