My daughter’s first tooth

My daughter cut her first tooth recently. What was a cute, “Oh, look she’s biting my nose!” is now more like, “AHHHH! Somebody please detach this baby from my face!” It’s amazing how much that miniscule amount of enamel affects people. Everywhere we went over the last six monthes or so people were looking at her gums or telling us stories of their child’s first tooth. Heck, people were even calling us at the house for dental updates. I even programmed the answering machine for “If you are calling about Maddie’s first tooth, it has not yet arrived. If you are calling for anything else, please leave a message.” We got a lot of calls, but no messages. It’s amazing. When the tooth first became visible via the naked eye – we tried magnifying glasses but they kept getting steamed up – I think my wife called more people than when Maddie was first born, if that’s possible. The oddest thing was that people were asking me if I’d gotten any pictures of it yet. A $400 digital camera two inches from a baby’s mouth? I think not. I must admit, though, it’s a lot of fun to watch Maddie learn how to use her one tooth. When she realizes she can bite down on food with it she gets this look like, “Hey, these things are great! Everybody should have some!” While mommy isn’t looking I’m teaching her to progressively bite the limbs, ears, and heads off Teddy Grahams. Shh, don’t tell.