Letting go of Scarlett's tooth

This is a hard post for me. Scarlett has quite a history with her front tooth. She started falling on it soon after she started walking. I can't count how many times I've watched her fall in slow motion just out of my reach. She doesn't seem to have the reflex to put her arms out and catch herself so she always hits her face. Most of the time her mouth is open and her front teeth take most of the force of the fall.

When this started I felt like I was going to the dentist every week! Scarlett is very fond of the dentist now. She even wakes up some mornings asking to go. I think that says a lot about the office I take her to. They know us there now, too. We're on a first name basis. Some of the assistants even tell us when to book our next appointments so they can work on Scarlett. It's sweet and I love that they love my daughter. What I don't love, however, is the waiting after each fall to see if it's going to abscess. I don't love how we've had various crowns put on just to fall off. As much as Scarlett loves they dentist and the dentist loves her, I don't love visiting them so often. I also worried about how Scarlett would feel if they got to where they couldn't repair her tooth with a crown. I was without both my front teeth until I was 7 and I remember being teased for it. I was a happy kid and didn't let it get to me, but who likes being teased? I am ashamed to admit as well that I didn't know how it would look and I didn't want people making assumptions about my daughter or me based on her appearance. So there are all my tangled thoughts.

 One afternoon we finally lost the war with the front teeth. Scarlett was climbing on something at Costco. Robert and I told her repeatedly to get down or she'd get hurt. I even pulled her down myself but she'd climb right back up. This is another trait she gets from me. She'd stubborn and won't listen to reason. She likes to learn the hard way. Not seconds after I'd pulled her down and turned my back, I thought Robert was keeping an eye on her, I heard a blood curdling scream from my daughter. I knew before I turned around she'd taken another fall to the face. I picked her up and examined the damage and blood ran from her screaming mouth. We are, sad to say, used to working around the screaming and blood with Scarlett. I knew immediately I'd be going to the dentist.

This picture is of the abscess that appeared above her tooth.  This is the "before the dentist" picture.

After the whole event ended I took her home and cuddled with my loopy, sad, hurting daughter.  You can see in the picture she was really out of it. 

We watched her favorite shows and we did a lot of soft foods and drinking.  She hung in there like a champ.  It was definitely harder on me than her.  I don't have and official "after the dentist" picture because she was feeling so yucky, but in future posts you'll see how her missing tooth just fits her.  She's got the spunk and tenacity to endure it beautifully.  I'm also happy to report that we have not had another fall in quite some time.  Maybe the force of genetics were pulling her to the ground.  She just has to be a mini replica of her mother in every way!