Instead of a birthday blog I want to tell you about Finn. He is a strong and funny and kind little boy. He is a caring brother. He is a good friend. He has a wickedly sarcastic sense of humour that both Scott and I love. He is sensitive and thoughtful. He says nightly poems and reads with his Mom and plays creative and imaginative Lego with his Dad. But you, dear reader, knew this already.
Today I want to tell you about Finn's bravery.
Finn was very brave today. He fell - on his face- at school during recess. On some kind of metal bar. The call I got at work was from a teacher telling me that there had been a fall and that Finn had fallen, cut his lip and maybe hurt his teeth. Would I come to the school to have a look?
I got to the school 2 minutes later to find him in the lobby of the school, surrounded by teachers, bleeding from the mouth and crying. Not a reassuring sight for any parent. I get the story of what happened from a few sources and get down to see the damage first hand.
What I saw made me feel like I had suddenly swallowed a hive of angry bees and rendered me momentarily speechless, to the absolute shock of many teachers who knew me already. I saw a cut lip, inside and out. I saw a bottom tooth missing and another hanging by a thread. When I lifted his top lip I saw his top 4 front teeth all pointing in different directions and very bloody gums. I was nearly sick but choked it down thinking that if Finn could deal with this so could I. My mind was racing with conflicting thoughts of dentist or doctor. doctor or dentist?
The doctor won. The emergency room said he was not in need of stitching but he did need to see a dentist quickly. We hadn't even got back to the van and he was pointing at the Ice Cream Island, across the street from the hospital, and reminding me that the doctor had said to eat soft food. And that ice cream was pretty soft, wasn't it mom? I agreed that it was but that we needed to focus right now get him to a dentist right away.
His next series of questions related to how old you have to be to be fitted with dentures (my answer: a lot older than 6) and whether he was the first kid in our family to have his teeth knocked out. I agreed that he was.
I count us all as being exceptionally lucky that our local dentist saw Finn right away. thankyouthankyouthankyou! He reassured us both that no teeth needed to be pulled, right now, and then put all of his top teeth back into the correct position. He said they may come out very soon, as they are all now very loose, but seeing that these were all baby teeth that he was likely to lose them soon anyways. Soon, I agreed, not necessarily all simultaneously.
Did I mention that by the time we left the school he had stopped crying and was talking about driving into Winnipeg with his father to go to Comic-Con? He told the doctor he was fine at the hospital when asked how he was. And only whimpered slightly when the dentist pulled and pushed his teeth back into position. I felt sick to my stomach and excused myself with, what I hoped was, a reassuring smile to Finn so that I wouldn't vomit on the man who was helping my son.
Finn's biggest reaction was when he asked to see what had happened himself; so I took some pictures and showed him. This is the view after the hospital but before the dentist. Be warned- these are not pretty.
I guess Finn will be getting to know his tooth fairy pretty well over the next short while. And let's hope she is carrying a lot of cash with her.
We were extra proud of Finn for making it through all of this with a calm demeanour and a sharp sense of humour. Good job Baby we love you!
