The Teething Fairy

The Teething Fairy, the lesser known evil twin sister of the tooth fairy, has come to visit our house.  Unfortunately it looks like she is in for an extended visit, as there is no sign of a tooth anywhere to be found.  Well let's be honest, I am actually  having to guess that it is the teething fairy in an effort to keep my sanity as I try to figure out reasons (aka grasp at straws) that Perron could be cranky and REFUSING to sleep.  That's right people, refusing to sleep.  Not a pretty situation at our house.  Of course the teething fairy decided to take up residence at the Crigler abode while Stephen was out of town.  She knew my defenses were down and I would not be able to fend off her attacks for a few days.  Conniving B$%#H!   

It started like this.  Stephen leaves on Wednesday to go to California for the game.  I am able to get Perron down like a breeze in 20 minutes flat and he stays asleep the entire night without making a peep until 6:30 the next morning.  He must be in cahoots with the Teething Fairy because he too likes to lull me into a sense of smug satisfaction at what a perfect mother I am before he sucker punches me in the gut.  So Thursday comes and bed time rolls around.  He again goes to sleep like a perfect little angel and again I am patting myself on the back and filling out my application for Mother of the Year.  Well of course the game was on, so I didn't get to bed until midnight...way past my bedtime.  He then was up at 2 and 4 and then up for the day at 7.  I thought okay, not great but not horrible, only one more night til daddy's home (read:  I can pawn off bedtime and night waking responsibilities on him).  Well Perron decided to save his best performance for last.  I got him down easy again, but he was up about 45 minutes later....and then did not go to sleep until midnight...and was then up again at 5 am for good.  YIKES!  Oh and did I mention he is pretty much refusing to nap as well.  Like I said, it isn't pretty.

This was the final straw and I called my mom.  I told her that I thought he was teething, but I was wondering if it could be an ear infection.  Of course my mom jumps on the ear infection band wagon immediately and says I need to take him in to get checked out.  I unfortunately allowed my mom to peer pressure me into taking him in to see the doctor on a Saturday morning.  Note to self:  NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!  It was like the bubonic plague had hit Birmingham and my pediatrician was the only person in the city who could cure it.  I knew it was going to be bad, because let's be honest a parent has to be pretty desperate if they are willing to pack it up bright and early on a Saturday morning to go to the doctor.  That is unless they are me, and then they just allow themselves to be talked into it by their mother.  Long story short, his ears are perfectly fine (which if I had trusted my mother's instinct, I would have known that without exposure to the bubonic plague) and the doctor looked at his mouth and said he is teething.

Again, not sure how he knows that since there isn't a tooth to be found anywhere in his mouth, but I guess I will trust him.  He left me with these reassuring words of wisdom: "He could cut a tooth by midnight or he could wait around until Easter for the tooth to show up."  Surely he is kidding...right....someone please tell me he is kidding....I can not wait until Easter for him to quit being cranky and sleep through the night again.  That tooth better be here by tonight or I am going to go on a witch hunt for that Teething Fairy and shake a damn tooth out of her.  Or maybe I will just go sleep at my parent's house and let Stephen deal with it.  Just kidding...or maybe not.