Comfort tips for that first loose tooth

My son has his first loose tooth. I saw it last night and broke into tears. My husband said, “You didn’t even cry this much when he started Kindergarten.” But Kindergarten was different. We knew the start of school nearly a year in advanced. We registered in the late spring, bought his backpack and new Keens, met his teacher and even went to orientation. As much as we could be, we were prepared for Kindergarten. I was not prepared for the loose tooth.

Sure, I had read loose teeth usually happen around age 6. But Truman doesn’t turn 6 for another three months. I thought we had more time. And I’ve grown rather attached to those tiny pearls, those slivers of white that hid inside his gums at birth and didn’t break through until he was four months old. They caused him to drool and fuss and drool and fuss. Despite that, I welcomed those little teeth. And now they are beginning their great departure.

Some research into the subject has taught me this – that my son may already have two adult teeth breaking the surface of his mouth. His 6-year molars should sprout behind his baby teeth in the back of his mouth sometime around age 6. This is all relative, because the rate at which a child loses his baby teeth and grows adult teeth is related to how early or late he started getting his baby teeth. If he was late in getting his baby teeth, he likely will be late in getting his adult teeth.

Baby teeth fall out in about the same order as they came in. The two front teeth on the bottom of the mouth are usually the first to go, followed by the two front teeth at the top. Most kids will lose their last baby tooth around age 12. And those wisdom teeth? Yeah, they usually drop in around age 17 and again at age 21.

Now, back to that first loose tooth. Truman knew he would eventually lose his teeth, like some of his friends have. But the loose tooth sort of took him by surprise. And it’s a little sore at times. Losing a tooth is a new experience for kids, so it can cause kids some anxiety. The online magazine Professor’s House offers these tips on how to get your child through that first loose tooth:

• Loose and permanent teeth just breaking the surface may be painful and may even bleed, which can be frightening for a young child. Reassure you child that the process is normal and a part of growing into a big boy or girl.
• If your child is in pain, consult your doctor or dentist about the best way to manage it. Sometimes a cold compress can handle the trick. (Remember teethers or frozen peas?) Your doctor or dentist may also suggest Tylenol or Motrin to get him over particularly painful episodes.
• Let your child wiggle that loose tooth, but encourage him not to pull a tooth (loose or otherwise) that isn’t ready to come out. Teeth that fall out on their own result in less bleeding and pain.
• And don’t forget to mention the Tooth Fairy, if she visits your house. Knowing that the Tooth Fairy will leave a reward for that tooth when it falls out should take the sting out of a sore tooth.

Photo, Flickr, dL76

Can cold, wet weather make you sick?

Day after day we have had rain and rain and more rain to the point I believe we may never have to suffer through another drought again. It is frustrating for my little boy whose season-opening T-ball and soccer games have been canceled due to too-soggy playing fields. The five-day forecast has no glimmer of sun, just gray clouds and lightning bolts. I fear this next week of ballgames will be canceled as well.

For entertainment Saturday my son burned some of his energy by dancing in a heavy downpour of rain. I watched from my in-law’s garage and laughed as he tumbled in the wet grass and spun around in the driveway like a dancer. My mother-in-law peeked out the back door and was mortified. “Come in from out of that rain! You will catch a cold!” she cried. I didn’t enforce that order. My rationale – if standing in streaming water made you sick, we would never take showers. I told my MIL that it simply was not true. She said, yes it was.

The old wives tales of getting soaked in the rain or going outside in cold weather without a coat will make you sick have been circulating for more than 500 years. In fact, the common sickness back then was called a “cold” because it was believed that cold weather was what caused the ailment. We now know that colds and flu are caused by viruses that invade the body and take over our defenses. More than 200 different viruses can cause the common cold.

It’s true that colds and flu are most prevalent in the colder months. Some experts say that it is because we spend more time indoors in close contact with other people. The low humidity of winter also helps viruses flourish, especially in noses, which are more apt to be dry and cracked during the colder months.

Here’s another interesting fact about illnesses. The flu tends to be more rampant when temperatures drop below 41 degrees.

Here’s where my MIL may have one up on me on this old wives tale. A UK study showed that volunteers who submerged their feet in 50-degree water for 20 minutes were more likely to develop cold symptoms over the following week than those whose feet stayed warm and dry. Researchers explain this by saying the body can keep a cold virus in check but when exposed to cold, wet feet, the immune system can weaken causing a full-fledge illness.

Coincidentally, my son has cold today. He started showing symptoms late last week, days before he wallowed in the rain. But I still hold firm to my belief that the rain did not cause his symptoms. As long as there is rain in the forecast and my son is hungry for entertainment (and it is not thundering and lightning outside), then he has my blessing to frolic in the rain and find some joy is this never-ending miserable weather.

Sources: About.com, How-come.net, VideoJug.com
Photo, Flickr, markomni

News Flash: Vigorous activity helps kids sleep

To say my son is active is an understatement. He is constantly charged. I called him “rambunctious” this weekend – much to my MIL’s dismay. That was after a stack of pancakes with syrup, two doughnuts, and a slice of cinnamon roll cake. (We were at the grandparents.) He was confined to the house, somewhat, because of the constant rain we’ve been having, but he made due tossing packing peanuts about like snowflakes, tumbling over furniture, and dancing in the rain. When we packed up the car and left for home that evening, my son took his first nap in months.

I have always been a believer in wearing kids out for the benefit of a swift and peaceful bedtime. Now a University of Ackland, New Zealand, study shows that there is some truth to that belief. The study’s lead author, Dr. Ed A. Mitchell, looked at 591 seven-year-olds and found that kids who spent more time in sedentary activities took longer to fall asleep after they went to bed. The study also showed that one in six parents of school-aged kids say their children have trouble falling to sleep at night.

Most children take about 26 minutes to fall asleep once they hit the bed at night. If the child has been active during the day, the less time it takes for him to nod off. As much as one hour of vigorous activity can shave as much as 6 minutes off a kid’s fall-asleep time. The study also showed that children who fall asleep faster tend to stay asleep longer.

Ingenious? Maybe. But I’ve found if my son goes to bed too exhausted he tends to wake up more during the night and sometimes has frightening night terrors.

Source, ABC News
Photo, JWJourney

CDC: School-aged kids at high risk of complications with N1H1

In the first three weeks of school, my son was home sick for four days. The second week of school he had strep throat. The following week he came home with a high fever, chills, and was lethargic and vomiting. Normally, I’d feed him Tylenol and baby him unless his symptoms got worse. But N1H1, the feared swine flu, is making its way through the Southeast. Virtually all flu cases at this time are considered to be the Swine flu by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). I had heard too many stories of otherwise healthy people dying because of the disease, so I rushed my son to the doctor. He tested negative for both flu and a reoccurrence of strep, and within 24 hours he was feeling fine. I heaved a sigh of relief, but was hungry to learn more about this feared outbreak and who was at risk.

A detailed report released by the CDC, and reported today by theNorth County Times, puts the condition into perspective, but hardly puts my mind at ease. According to the report, unlike the usual seasonal flu that kills half or more of children age 4 and younger, the swine flu is taking a higher toll on school-age kids. At least 40 – or about one in 13 U.S. swine flu deaths – are in children between the ages of 5 and 17. Some epidemiologists say that may be because school-age kids are more apt to be around other kids at camps and school than younger children. That may also explain why the Southeast is seeing more cases of swine flu than other regions, because our schools tend to start earlier.

Other differences between the ordinary flu and N1H1 detailed in the CDC report include secondary conditions. For example, two-thirds of the children who died from swine flu had an underlying neurodevelopmental condition such as epilepsy or cerebral palsy, compared to one-third with ordinary flu. And, other germs, such as a bacterial infection, on top of the swine flu proves more deadly to otherwise healthy children. Of the 10 children who were healthy before they got N1H1 but died from the virus, eight had a bacterial infection, such as bacterial pneumonia, along with the flu.

The CDC doesn’t track the usual seasonal flu so it is hard to say whether the swine flu is more prevalent than the ordinary flu. But there is some good news. The virus doesn’t appear to be mutating to become more deadly than it is now, as some scientists have feared.

Photo, JWJourney

What triggers your midlife crisis?

He was the editor of our small town college newspaper. I was the Lifestyles editor. He was all hard news, always searching for the story that would excite people and motivate change. I was all frills and features, more interested in telling a story than shaking the tree. But he challenged me. He encouraged me to step beyond my timid limits and look beyond the obvious. My stories became more flashy and brave. He was brilliant that way, his lanky form always head-butting the tiny Southern campus like a wedge going into a steel beam. He had media internships that made me sick with envy, and then turned away from journalism, a bit, to dive into the ivy-patched halls of law school. That was the last I heard of him.

Nearly two decades later, I was wallowing in my own insufficiencies. The writing career I was hell-bent on pursuing as a college grad – and did enjoy for a decade afterwards – was now tucked behind a wall of public relations bullshit. I was considering selling my soul to sales just to get away, a most gruesome thought, when I received a newsletter from my alma mater. My old college newspaper editor, it announced, had moved far beyond the halls of that small Tennessee school to found a human rights organization. He had become a well-known advocate for the environment and even published a book, becoming the only African-American to write a New York Timesbest seller on the topic. I turned to my husband and announced, “I am a failure.”

There was no contest. I was not racing toward any goal against any of my peers. My friend had gone beyond what probably any of us from that school could have, and I was riddled with jealously and guilt. Here he was charging toward that ambition and need to help others that always bloomed in his spirit. And then there was I, wallowing in a job I hated just to get a paycheck. What happened to my dream?

It is because of my old friend, who I have not talked with since senior year in college, that I quit my PR job and began writing again. I call that transition my midlife crisis.

THE MIDLIFE CRISIS
Gail Sheehy in her book New Passages, calls the midlife crisis the “second adulthood.” It is, essentially, a second chance at becoming the person we are meant to be. It happens, some say, when we wake up one day and realize we’re not the young person we used to be, and that the “when I grow up I will do THIS” mentality is suddenly replaced with the “I am grown up and I never did THAT” frame of mind. Thus, some of us find ourselves at a crossroads known often as the midlife crisis.

The Chinese word for crisis is “dangerous opportunity.” Like any crisis, the one that happens in midlife – many say between ages 35 and 45, but really, life-changing midlife crises can come at any age – provides an opportunity for change and growth. Sheehy says it is a time to “stop and recalculate. … Imagine the day you turn 45 as the infancy of another life.”

For some, that may mean a new sports car or a new spouse. For me, it meant redirecting the career path I was on. (Sheehy would call that my “new map of adult life,” something she says we need to plot our course so we don’t get off track and do anything crazy, like date our daughter’s boyfriends.)

AND WHAT OF MY MENTOR?
Last week I began hearing disturbing reports about my old friend, the former college newspaper editor who had recently been named a special advisor to the president. He was caught up in a flurry of controversy stirred by a conservative talk show host and old petitions and speeches on YouTube. In the wee hours Sunday morning, I read that he had resigned that high profile post. It broke my heart, not just for him, but for the advances he was making that would benefit not only the health of our planet but provide jobs our citizens so sorely need.

In my midlife revelation, I am grounded enough not to expect success on the level my friend was able to achieve. I suspect there are greater heights for him still. Because even now, so far away from those formidable college years, I still find myself learning from him.

Time.com
Photo, Flickr, MacAllenBrothers

How to humanely euthanize a pet fish

Years ago, when I hoped time would make minds forget, I promised Rick that Truman could have a dog for his sixth birthday. The idea was that our then-baby would be old enough to participate in his puppy’s care and I would not be solely responsible for the pup. But I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I would be the one maintaining the dog, and so I hoped that the comment I made in a moment of weakness (there was likely some wine involved, too) would be forgotten.

Fast-forward two years, and here we are staring down the barrel of Truman’s sixth birthday. I was discussing party options with him and he said, “I want a puppy for my birthday.” I said, “ Wouldn’t you rather have asaltwater fish tank instead?” He responded, “Yes. I think I would. And I could get the puppy for my 13th birthday.” I said, “Deal!” so fast my husband actually looked up from the New York Times to see what the ruckus was about.

Coco Conundrum inspects our new fish, Picasso II.

Obviously, some research is in order since we have a particular talent for killing betas, goldfish and other freshwater fish. So over cocktails at our house the other day I asked my friend, who is also a veterinarian, if he treated fish and had any saltwater fish advise. He said, “No, but I did have someone ask me to euthanize their fish once.”

He said a client had made an appointment for a fish euthanasia, and he was surprised to see it on the books. The fish wasn’t sick or in pain, mind you. The woman, for whatever reason, just wasn’t able to care for the fish any more. She loved the fish. He would talk to her every morning and blow bubbles at her as she scatteredfood in his tank. Giving him away to another human just didn’t seem … humane. The only resolution that made sense was sending him on to the afterlife, humanely. And that’s when she turned to my friend, her vet.

Over emptying glasses of sauvignon blanc, the gathered group of friends and I joked about the many ways fish could meet their demise – the giant flush, the old don’t-clean-the-tank-for-a-month, sticking the guppy in the freezer, and forcing our Coco Conundrum on the little guy. But euthanasia, my veterinarian friend explained, is different. Euthanisa means giving someone (or something) an easy and painless death, and an appropriate technique should provide rapid unconsciousness followed by cardiac or respiratory arrest and ultimate loss of brain function. He was being paid to give this woman’s pet a humane death and he had to do it properly. After all, she would be witnessing the entire thing.

My friend admitted to his customer that he had never euthanized a fish before, but he did do his research. One suggested technique involved grasping the fish by the tail and whopping his head against a wall. We all agreed with him that witnessing such a death would have been a bit painful for the fish’s owner. My friend finally settled on a more humane-sounding practice. First, he added a smidgen or so of eugenol, also known as clove oil, to the fish’s water. That got the fish feeling no pain and maybe a little sleepy. Then he poured in a jigger of ethanol, also called pure grain alcohol, the same stuff that courses through the veins of most fraternity houses. The technique worked like a charm, killing the fish quickly, swiftly and humanely.

And now you know how to euthanize a pet fish. Rest in peace, little guppy.

Photo, JWJourney

How much do you pay the Tooth Fairy?

It happened. My son pulled out his first baby tooth. We weren’t there to see the hallowed event – he was with his favorite sitter, Jessica. Truman was mindlessly wiggling his tooth while watching SpongeBob when his tooth just slipped out. He was a little shaken up about the little bit of blood that poured into his mouth, but by the time we arrived home he was proudly showing off his accomplishment, sealed tight in a snack-sized Ziploc bag.

This is not my son, but same expression!

Just a few hours earlier our friend Eric had told Truman that all he had to do was pull that tooth and the Tooth Fairy would leave $50 under his pillow. “Fifty dollars?” My son said, surprised. Rick and I started mumbling about the state of the economy and that likely the Fairy wouldn’t leave that much, but Eric winked at us and said, “Yes, that’s right. Fifty dollars!”

Well, the Tooth Fairy did not leave $50. But after the Truman went to bed, we debated what to actually put under our son’s pillow. I figured we’d leave a couple dollars. I got 50 cents as a child. Rick, who got 50-cent pieces for his lost teeth, suggested we leave $15. FIFTEEN DOLLARS? Eric was still pushing for the $50 bill, and that sure wasn’t going to happen. (We do have friends whose son lost his tooth unexpectedly late one night. The only cash they had on hand was $20, and reluctantly, they left that for their son. Needless to say, he was thrilled.)

I had done research, however, on what to pay the Tooth Fairy. I talked to some friends and searched the Internet. As it turns out, 52 percent of the more than 25,500 people surveyed by Baby Center leave just $1. Eleven percent are still putting coins totaling less than a buck under their kids’ pillows. And a smidgen – 3 percent – leave no money at all.

We ultimately decided to leave $5 under Truman’s pillow, and then had to raid his piggy bank for a new bill as ours looked a bit worse for wear. We weren’t alone. The second largest percentage of people surveyed – 19 percent – give more than $2.

But I’m going with the majority of the group when it comes to the Tooth Fairy in general. “Visits from the Tooth Fairy are a magical part of childhood,” (51 percent). And, I’m going to keep up her pretense “as long as I possibly can!” (54 percent)

Want to see how your thoughts on the Tooth Fairy rank? Take the Baby Center Tooth Fairy poll.

Photo, Flickr, srett