When I was a kid my two front teeth fell out and new ones never came back in. Everyone seemed to find it amusing to torment me with the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." Oh how I loathe that song. There was this tall skinny black kid in my class that *lovingly* nicknamed me "vamp" because of my vampire like smile. I also earned the nickname "Batty" after the bat in "Ferngully" (get it, vampire bat?). Yeah, a bit obnoxious. The kid meant it in good fun but it was pretty much annoying and I hated that those stupid teeth would NOT grow in.
Eventually the dentist determined that I had two sets of teeth inside my gums, a lower set and a higher set. The lower ones did not have roots on them and they were blocking the higher normal teeth from coming in. How weird is that? I had a little outpatient surgery and the doc sliced open my gums and removed the troublesome teeth. My regular teeth took a while coming in after that, but I was so thankful when they finally did. I can't remember how long I didn't have teeth, 3rd and 4th grade maybe? My mom might remember. I'm sure it wasn't nearly as long as it felt like to my young mind.
I've thought about this incident from time to time. It seems like a strange thing to have had these random extra teeth. Maybe it's more common than I realize, but I'm curious about why this happened. I wonder if this was Heavenly Father's way of helping me prepare for the spinal fusion that was in my future. I was a tough little cookie back then, I handled needles and doctors and pain just fine. Of course I've gone soft in my old age, but I was strong when I needed to be and I'm thankful for that.
Anyhow, here are some pics of my little toothless girl, she's just too cute. And I'm happy to add that her adult teeth are already poking through her gums.
Taking his picture is always a treat, check this out:
"Calin, let me take a picture of you."
"Come on, give me a good one"
"I want a smile!"
"A real smile, please."
" Okay, now smile like that and look at the camera"
"Um, no. Calin...."
"Ugh. Whatever. Just go back to your homework."
*sigh*
2 comments:
I like the last pic a lot. It captures him very well.
Excuse me but how can you say you've gone soft in your old age? How many women can say they chose to have their babies with out an epidural?
I don't remember when your teeth finally came in. Get out some of your school pic's and see when you had teeth and when you didn't. I don't think you ever told me about the nicknames. So sorry.
The pic's of your kids are typical. Naiya with the big lovely smile and Calin uncooperative. At least he doesn't stick out his tongue like your bro used to do.
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