Tiny Treasure

This tiny treasure chest houses Karson's extracted tooth. Yes, that's right, EXTRACTED TOOTH. It was abcess and looked terrible. She had a visit with her dentist yesterday. I had prepared her as much as any pertrified Mommy could, but it was a traumatic day. I had horrible teeth as a child and remember getting shots but nothing like what she experienced. She was given laughing gas for her nerves. Once she was good and calm (if that's possible in those uncomfortable chairs and the anxiety of knowing what's about to happen), the dentist came in and gave her a couple of shots. When he left, I told her how proud I was and that the worst was over. I was SO WRONG. They wanted to x-ray the tooth, I can't remember why--maybe to send to Guiness Book for the "worst abcess in history" (just a hunch). The dentist came back in, put the bite in her mouth which looks like a giant black piece of licorice and gave her more shots. AHHHH!!! She was wincing in pain and getting a bit hysterical. I tried my best to calm her down while the dentist gave her a break. Once he came back, he got right to work filling the cavity on the tooth behind the abcess, and then, the extraction. I can't remember all the details, but I'll try my best to paint a picture: legs curled up, tears, screams, complete and total body tension--a Mother's nightmare seeing her child in that much pain and trepidation. She had a blue, plastic mask over her mouth which had a be lifted numerous times so she could breathe. Needless to say, it was BAD all around. It took her at least 10-15 minutes to calm down once it was over. My poor baby! Her dentist and hygenist were fabulous though and did their best trying to ease her obvious distress. After biting down on numerous gauze, filling an antibiotic, a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick out a well-deserved treat, we went home. As many of you know, children are are all around resilient and Karson was ready to show her friends at church last night her lose-did tooth. She said, "I can't wait to show Brooks and Tucker. I'll tell them I was the first to lose-did my tooth." I told her, "Karson that doesn't sound very nice. Losing teeth isn't and shouldn't be a competition." Later she told me in such a sweet voice "I'll just tell my friends that I lose-did a tooth."