The Morning's Post

When I was planning out this post this morning, it was going to be about how it is simply impossible that Em came out of me. I was going to be saying that because--after a rather traumatic day yesterday where Baroy took her to the dentist because there was a lump on her gum, and it turned out to be an abscess that had formed over a dead, capped tooth and so the tooth needed to be pulled--this child who supposedly is related to ME, hypochondriac extraordinaire, basically refused all pain medication and insisted on attending her soccer practice last night, even though she wasn't allowed to participate. And when I went to pick her up from practice, she was sobbing almost hysterically, and I thought, "Oh, she's in pain!" and went running to her, only to find out that she was pissed because the coach had made it a fun practice and let the parents play against the kids, and she wasn't allowed to play with them. And it was as if her heart were broken. Whereas, had it been me...well, it wouldn't have been, because if there's anything I have always hated more than dentists, it was playing team sports, which I have always sucked at and found way too stressful. And had I been there at that practice, I would probably have found a reason not to play, even for fun. Whereas my kid thought it was the Worst Day Ever, not because she had a tooth yanked from her head, but because she had to WATCH while her teammates beat the pants off their parents.

So that's what I was going to write about. Until I got to Em's classroom today for her class's holiday party, and found out that she had lost most of a filling in a tooth on the OTHER side of her mouth. At which point I was going to write a post about how much money has been flying out of our house in just the past two weeks (the current tally: a broken washing machine that couldn't be repaired, thus requiring a brand-new one to be purchased; four new tires for Baroy's car yesterday after he blew one on the freeway and was told at least two others were close behind; Em's pulled tooth from yesterday; and now probably a crown or something for the tooth that had lost its filling.

So that's what I was going to write about. Until Baroy called me from the dentist's office, laughing somewhat hysterically, to tell me to get those Tooth Fairy gold coins out again. Because, apparently, the tooth was just crumbling underneath the filling, and since it was a baby tooth, the dentist recommended just yanking it--and doing it today, so that Em didn't have to worry about it all weekend.

And so that is what I am writing about. How my poor baby had to have TWO teeth pulled in the past two days, and how she was crying in fear and pain, and yet how she came home, pulled herself together, and is now--less than an hour later--out in her friend S's backyard with the rest of the neighborhood kids, bleeding into a gauze pad and talking like a mini Don Corleone, and yet giggling and gossiping and having a blast.

Which brings me full circle, I guess. Who's child IS this? And how can I get to be more like her?