You can't handle the tooth

Apparently we don't feed our kid enough. The oatmeal and fruit in the morning, yogurt and more fruits or veggies in the afternoon, and meats and veggies in the evening just don't do it for Kyle. Neither do all the bottles we give him throughout the day. For some reason, our little one needs more wood in his diet.



Kyle is a habitual crib muncher. Every time he's behind bars, the top rail becomes a magnet for his mouth. At first he merely soaked the wood with his saliva, but now that he has some teeth, he's actually digging into it. The grating is loud enough to be heard through the baby monitor, so we no longer need him to cry to tell us he's awake from his nap. We're hoping it's a harmless exercise - for him, not the crib. It's too late for the crib. Kyle's ruining any chance we'd have at re-selling it at a decent price:



Maybe we're not giving him enough fiber. Or maybe he was a dog in another life and misses the taste of wood. Or it just could be that he doesn't know what to do with his new teeth. Eventually he'll be able to use them to chew gum, eat Charleston Chews or attack small animals, but for now his diet is mostly limited to mushy things, like pureed green beans and caviar. We have given him some cereal and toast, but he has yet to become a huge fan of finger foods (he prefers his fingers). Perhaps he's just satisfied with digging into the crib... and other things.

Last week I was carrying him to his changing table when all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my chest. "YEEHOW!" I screamed as my life flashed before my eyes. I considered calling 911, but it turns out that I wasn't having a heart attack; it was just Kyle, digging into my skin. I learned then that my son has powerful jaws that attack like a snake after a mouse. Thank goodness he doesn't have venom, or else he'd be a travel hazard. I was just glad I had the presence of mind to not drop him when I felt the pain.

We're trying to teach Kyle the proper ways to use his teeth before he starts attacking our guests. He still hasn't quite grasped our lessons yet, but I'm going to give him some slack, since he's still less than eleven months old. If he doesn't get the message by the time he becomes a teenager, then we probably have a problem.

So maybe it's best that he digs into the crib instead of a person, especially since his top front teeth are now coming through. The top of the crib rail is already showing the scars. Hopefully this phase will end before he destroys the crib completely. Until then, I guess we'll just have to call him our little termite.