Teeth: The first WMD

With Ava's newly growth upper incisors, which I must mention seem downright huge in comparison to her lower incisors, we have been introducing her to new foods. Well, that's not entirely true... its the same old foods, just not pureed to a broth-like consistency. Ava's chicken noodle baby food now has noodles, albeight baby sized noodles. The solid parts of her food tend to find their way out of her mouth as she attempts to master mastication. Thus, our relatively clean feeding sessions have progressed into a contest to see how fast we can plaster a bib out of sight.

Ava picks up the small bits of solid food we place on her high-chair tray, but, to improve her chances of actually getting anything in her mouth, she picks up 5 or 6 things at a time before trying to feed herself. Doni tried to help her out by hand feeding her small pieces of banana. Engrossed in her newfound skills, Ava promptly bit down on Doni's finger.

Biting her own lip to prevent from teaching Ava a series of four letter words, she relayed to me that it was worse than being bit by a dog. Little did she know that this reiterated what I had learned in medical school. The bacteria in a human's mouth are more pathologic than the bacteria in a dog's mouth and tend to lead to worse infections. But I digress..... (besides, Ava didn't break the skin).

As Ava began feeding herself again, I wondered out loud how long it would be till she bit herself. Little did I know that 60 seconds later what I spoke would become a reality. Ava cried and cried and cried. It's hard to explain to a 9 month old the perils of finger foods.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go wonder out loud how long it will be till I win the lottery.