What an accident-prone kid!! Amazing. There we were at a well-supervised children's area of a fitness gym and Madelyn splits open her chin. The poor girl is off school today and I had already taken her to the dentist (which she and Greyson actually don't mind one bit - all they care about is leaving with a new toothbrush). We had planned a playdate with one of Madelyn's preschool friends that she hasn't seen in awhile. That however got canceled since we were instead rushing over to our pediatrician's office. I think the workers at the gym were a little surprised that I wasn't more anxious about the situation. But to be honest after this and this and the front teeth that were almost knocked out in October, this doesn't come as too much of a shock to me. As for the actual clinic part, since I've been through this before and it was lunchtime, I stopped and got lunch on the way (Dino Gyro's - YUM!) and we ate while we waited for Madelyn's chin to get numbed up and then she was bravest little girl EVER while they sewed shut her gapping chin with two stitches. No tears, no whining, no issues. (And Greyson was great too! With his toy car and some books as entertainment, he was much more patient than I would have expected.) After asking about our family history with stitches, the doctor gave me the go ahead to take them out by at home in four to five days. However, if you ask Ben, that would be a bad idea (but don't ask). I'll probably have Ben take them out.
Since it has come up, I might as well fill in some about the almost lost teeth too. On October 29th, 2009, a Thursday, our home phone rings at 8am and Ben answers (which in itself is unusual because he is usually already gone for work but ironically had a dentist appt that morning). I hear him talking to someone and then to Madelyn trying to calm her down. The nurse from school had called to say that she had fallen and that Madelyn was "fine" but wanted to talk to us. (Looking back, I wish I had talked to her.) We trusted the nurse and had her stay at school. When Madelyn got home, I realized that I won't trust this school nurse's opinion again. Madelyn's mouth and top gum were swollen and both of her top teeth were severely loose and sore. Evidently, a boy in another kindergarten class had playfully come up behind her and picked her up around her body and arms and then lost his balance or grip and dropped her forward onto the sidewalk face first. I was devastated. First, simply because it had happened but also because no one really helped her deal with it physically OR emotionally until she got home 6 hours later! She sobbed in my arms for at least an hour. I gave her some ibuprofen and then laid her down next to me to sleep some. I felt that I had completely failed her that day. In any case, since then we have been watching those front teeth closely to see if they were going to be a problem. They both discolored a little but then one returned to normal color but the other has just continued to get darker. She is so close to losing those teeth anyway that I'm not worried about that. I was more worried about how her permanent teeth would fare. The dentist said (after an x-ray in the beginning of November) that the permanent teeth look fine and as long as an abscess doesn't form, she's in the clear. It was interesting convincing Madelyn to not wiggle her loose teeth though. As a kindergarten, she has older friends in her class that are already losing their teeth and she wanted to lose one too! I think telling her that she could be without a front tooth or two for two YEARS convinced her to leave them alone... :) As I said earlier, we went to the dentist this morning, they confirmed that there is nothing to worry about. Whew.
