A Sweet Tooth

I feel kind of sorry for Tory. Ian has been the first one of them to do almost every single thing literally since birth when he was the first one born. Once in the NICU, Ian was the first one to breath on his own, the first one to start gaining weight, and the first one to wear real clothes. Once they came home, Ian continued to do firsts first, being the first one to roll over, the first one to pull himself up to standing, and the first one to crawl. Actually he’s still the only one to crawl, as Tory is still content to drag himself within a five-foot radius of his initial drop point.

It’s not like Tory is late doing anything. All his milestones are still well within the norms. Ian just beats him to them, and Tory follows in a couple days, except for that crawling thing. I can’t think of any milestones Tory hit first, unless “first one to finish his bottle” or “first one to demand 12-ounces in a feeding” count as milestones. Oh, and of course “first one to weigh (insert number here) pounds.”

That all changed yesterday. At 8-plus months old, Tory now is the first of our boys to have a tooth. His bottom front left tooth cut through the gum yesterday afternoon. At least I think it appeared yesterday afternoon. It could have happened earlier, but he chews on me enough that I think I’d know if a tooth erupted sooner.

Getting teeth is a big step. It symbolizes their preparedness for solid food, for Tasteeos straight from the box. It also means they no longer get to chew on me. When Abbie was their age, the only thing she would take as a pacifier was my finger, which I gave to her frequently when she fussed. That stopped real quick after her teeth appeared and she could leave dents in my fingers.

I remember Abbie’s teeth came in pairs. When one appeared, another would soon follow, keeping symmetry within her mouth. I stopped checking for new teeth sometime after her tenth tooth popped in since she always bit me when I tried opening her mouth, and she now had enough teeth to do major damage.

As of right now, Ian still has the toothless old man look, but I expect his gums to match soon. In fact, I’m preparing to panic if a tooth doesn’t erupt through his gums by next weekend. I know it’s not a competition between the two of them, and I shouldn’t compare them, but each makes a good predictor of what the other will soon be doing. When Ian first laughs, Tory will soon start laughing. When Ian first sits up, Tory will soon start sitting up. When Ian first crawls, Tory will start crawling just as soon as he drops a few ounces and can lift his frame.