We’ve had a big morning in our house – Lex’s first baby teeth have come loose. To say my lad is a little bit spun out by the feeling of having loose teeth in his mouth is an understatement – see photo of distressed child for proof. In fact, Lex’s reaction was not dissimilar to how his Mum reacts when discovering a broken tooth! I’m not sure if Jax assisted in the loosening of said teeth, because he yanked a crane inserted into Lex’s mouth moments before the discovery. As such, Lex is not only very unhappy about his teeth, but very unhappy about Jax’s role in their demise.Moments like this bring to light the challenges of raising a speech delayed child. In the last 12 months or so, Lex’s language has improved considerably, especially in the area that has been our biggest struggle – his receptive language. Receptive language delay means he finds it difficult to understand what is being said to him. Expressive language has also been a challenge, but we work hard to interpret what he’s saying. As you can imagine, when your kid doesn’t understand what you’re talking about this is very difficult for a parent, because you just need your kids to understand, mainly because you want them to be safe. When you feel unsure that “don’t run on the road” isn’t understood, for example, it can make you a slightly nervous wreck of a parent.
So imagine this morning when I had to sit him down, through his tears, and try to explain what was happening. It went something along these lines: “Love this is completely normal. The loose teeth will fall out and then your big boy teeth will come in. When the teeth fall out, we will put them under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy will take them away and leave you some money so you can buy toys. This is a great thing darling, don’t worry, I promise everything will be OK.”
Bless his cotton socks.
In the meantime, we now anxiously await the moment his first teeth fall out and I hope I’m there when it happens. It’s a big deal round these parts, but probably for different reasons than most, and hey let’s not forget – my little boy is growing up!
Yours, without the bollocks
Andrea
