Grow With It Thursday

Owen bit the inside of his mouth yesterday as we were driving home in the car. He instantly started crying. At that point, I didn’t know what was wrong, but I knew he was upset. He yelled, “wash your face”, then I knew it had to do with his mouth. Those are his keywords for expressing himself when he can’t explain all the details about his face or mouth. I thought he might have lost one of his teeth; he has several that are loose. He then went on, “does your teff hurt”. I started asking him questions, trying to distract him. He had calmed down the closer we got to home. He screams and cries a lot in the car. He can’t always explain what is the matter and sometimes he is upset because the stoplights aren’t all green. I have to decide what is a cry of anxiousness, what is pain, and what is for attention or from happiness. There are days that walking out our door takes every bit of effort I have. He has a hard time processing it all and so do I. We got home and as soon as I turned off the car he started screaming again. I turned to face him and he reached for my hand, wanting me to put my finger in his mouth. I told him that we would look at it as soon as we got inside. By the time we got to the door he had pulled on his mouth and it started bleeding. I got him to the bathroom and I handed him a washcloth. He wanted to wipe his face. Once he did that I was able to look in his mouth. He still wanted me to put my finger in his mouth to feel the bump. Luckily when I do this now he doesn’t bite me anymore. He used to grab my fingers, put them in his mouth, and bite down as hard as possible. I do not miss those days. I never understood if it was input he needed or why he wanted to bite me. I gave him some medicine and the rest of the night he was very calm about his teeth. I’m thankful that his teeth didn’t give him more trouble last night. Maybe by the time he loses them all, he will be able to process it. Until then we take to one day at a time. Through the rain, there will still be sunshine. Take a moment to breathe and know that this too shall pass. You are important. Smiles to all and donut daze!