Christian recently knocked a tooth loose, and since the adult tooth was so close to coming in anyway, we got to visit the dentist today to "wiggle" out the tooth. The pediatric dentist was so nice, but Christian wasn't understanding all their "baby talk."
For example, they asked him if his mouth was getting "all tickly" yet. "Do you mean numb?" he asked. "Sort of, but I still have a little sensation right here."
"Make sure you're flossing every night so the sugar-bugs aren't growing on your teeth, ok?" they cautioned him. "Sugar bugs?" he queried. "Are you talking about bacteria? I know that bacteria feeds off of sugar, but there aren't BUGS in my mouth."
While they were working in his mouth he started pushing them away, so they asked what was wrong. "Sorry, but I really have to expectorate," he explained. Their faces were priceless.
After he was done, he was sitting up and drooled. "Oops," they said, "Don't touch that red stuff. We'll wipe it up." "Do you mean the blood?" my son clarified. Then he reassured them, "Don't worry. It will clot soon."
Oh, this kid of mine. :-)
On the way home, we had a detailed conversation about the mechanisms of blood clotting, and I used an analogy of building a temporary dam across a creek with mud and rocks (blood clot) to hold back the water while you poured a concrete dam (tissues healing).
Later on that afternoon I almost sent him to his room when I caught him saying "That damn thing in my mouth hurts." Yeah... he meant to say, "That dam-thing in my mouth," referring to the clotting analogy. Sigh.
I am off to work tooth-fairy magic before I collapse for the night.
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