Anti-dentite

We have it on good authority that Owen is teething. We'd been told he was for several months by friends, family and child care providers that all pointed to Owen's excessive drool and tendency to gum anything he gets his hands on as signs of the imminent arrival of dentites. We waited with anticipation, but to no avail -- apparently, Owen just has highly developed salivary glands and an adventurous palate. Now, however, teeth have been spotted just beneath the gum line and having spent the last three nights dealing with a screaming child, we can say with some confidence that his incisors are coming.

The official diagnosis came Monday when Allen took Owen in to check out a persistent cold that seemed to have escalated over the weekend (he would wake himself up coughing and then start screaming). After telling us yet again that Owen has a viral cold that we should probably just let run its course, his pediatrician noted that some baby teeth are on the way (hence the screaming).

Sadly, the doctor didn't offer an advice on how to deal with the fact that the coughing keeps waking Owen up and once awake, Owen becomes fully cognizant of the agonizing pain his mouth is in which causes him to cry for a solid hour in the wee hours of the morning. Just when he finally starts drifting off to sleep, he starts coughing and the cycle begins again. And to think it was only last week that he was sleeping 10-11 hours at night...