It could have been worse...

Last weekend, while visiting the 'ville and the family who lives there, our almost-3-year-old was attacked by a vicious animal.

Seriously.

Our clumsy little munchkin had done her thing - which is to walk ten feet, forget she's walking, and kind of just fall down, but with some serious forward momentum which results in a pretty good wipeout - in the doorway of a restaurant we were leaving. In the nanosecond between the time when I said, "Oh, you're okay..." and when I reached down to swoop her up, Kujo appeared. Teeth bared, barking at full volume, some mangy shepherd-mix thing roars into my baby's face -snout to whimpering little helpless nose.

I'm not sure what happened next, because both baby and I burst into tears. I heard something about "oh, she doesn't like small children..." and then I saw the dog owners sheepishly racing to their car. There was some kind of meager apology issued that I interpreted as "hey, at least we pulled her away before she ACTUALLY gnawed your child's precious face off."

It could have been worse. We should have gotten their information anyway, so we'd have somewhere to send the therapy bills.

And it must be something about Saturdays.

Today we were treated to a nephew's birthday party, complete with full size bounce house. It was our second party of the day and we were all napped up and ready. The girls immediately ran out of their shoes and into the bounce house - quickly learning that holding onto the netting in the window openings allowed one to jump just that...much...higher.

Now, it's easy to look at a bounce house and spy the inherent dangers. Neck and back injuries from over-rotating. Heads colliding. Bitten lips and tongues. Teeth getting caught on the net and yanked out of one's head.

Yes folks, you heard it here first - it is possible to catch a tooth on the bounce house netting and have it yanked from your head with a good jump. I know, because I watched it happen to my almost-3-year-old today.

Assuming the blood was just from a pierced lip, I grabbed an ice cube and a screaming child and went to work. The resident dental hygienist appeared (read: took control) and called to my attention the gaping hole in my child's sweet smile. Once again, the helpless parent burst into tears. A thorough search turned up no tooth, and after 45 minutes of crying and a phone call to our pediatric dentist who we'd just seen on Wednesday - the same one who made a point to make sure I knew to call him if anything ever came up (I was baffled, why would I need to call him?), our little gap-toothed kid was making a recovery and ready for cake.

It could have been worse. There could have been no cake.

(for a photo of Gappy - visit our family blog)

Comments

I think it makes the that precious, sweet smile even sweeter!
Good grief! Poor, sweet Chloe. I'm so glad it was a baby tooth and will be replaced, eventually. Give her my best and a big kiss from all of us.
Jim Jordan said…
Sounds like Chloe had the Week of Living Dangerously. I hope the new tooth grows back soon. I was wondering too if the dog incident happened at the Mexican restaurant we both go to a lot?
Amy said…
Do we eat free if I say "yes"? just kidding. No, it was in Gainesville.
Jim Jordan said…
Whew, I'm glad to hear that. :-)

some mangy shepherd-mix

We'd never serve him anyway...Pedigrees only! Hope you guys are enjoying your summer.

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