Monday, March 23, 2009

Chipped, then chipper

One of our ongoing projects is teaching Abby how to ride a bike. This takes some effort, for a few reasons. Aside from her reluctance, coordination difficulties, strength issues and fear, there's the issue of where to ride. Our driveway isn't suitable, as it's very short and in dire need of repaving.

The neighborhood sidewalks are very bumpy, and we live on a somewhat busy street about halfway down a hill. Someday, when she's more confident, she may want to ride around the neighborhood, but for now, we load her bike, Brian's trike and Timmy's big wheel in the van and take them to a quiet parking lot nearby to ride.

Earl and his parents took the kids a couple of weeks ago, when I had a busy Sunday. They all had fun, but Abby did fall and cut her lip (this, with training wheels on the bike.) Earl said she got right back on and was fine for the rest of the afternoon, and I didn't see any evidence of injury.

Then, about a week ago, I noticed that one of her teeth had a chip in it. It was small, and I spent a couple of days trying to look without letting Abby know what I was doing. I compared it against recent photos, and finally, last Wednesday night, I felt the tooth with my finger. It felt rough, and any doubts were erased from my mind. She had broken off the corner of one of her permanent teeth.

She asked me what I was doing, and I told her that it looked like she'd chipped her tooth. Immediately she started crying, saying she was sorry and saying she didn't mean to do it. I asked her when it happened, and she said, "When I fell off my bike."

Ah, I thought. This explained why she was so reluctant to ride her bike this past weekend.

I asked her why she didn't say anything about it when it happened. She said, "I didn't know until I looked in the mirror," and dissolved into more tears. By this time, I was nearly crying, myself.

I told her I'd call the dentist and we'd get her tooth fixed. It took a good 15 minutes to calm her down, and I had to assure her multiple times that no one was mad at her, that accidents happen and that it could be fixed pretty easily. She finally settled down.

We usually take the kids to the dental clinic at Children's Hospital, so that's where we went. Dr. Carrie fixed Abby's tooth beautifully, and Abby handled the appointment, the drilling and the filling like a champ. The break only involved the enamel, so she didn't have to have her tooth numbed for the procedure, which certainly helped.

Now her smile is back to normal, and she's smiling more again. Hopefully we'll be able to get her back on the bike again soon, and she'll be able to keep herself on it. That will give us all something to smile about.

2 comments:

JEN said...

aww poor abby-glad it got fixed without much fuss and good luck on the bike!

cmmoore said...

She is such a little champion soldier!!! *claps*