I read on one of those parenting websites a quote that goes in different places for me.  “You can do nothing to make new teeth appear.” 

You’ve probably read somewhere on the blog that I have a little one.  He’s my noisemaker, my sleep-taker.  He’s cute.  He has to be.  That’s the way God gets us, right?  Giving us cute kids who drive our ears to ringing.  But I digress.  I’ve seen little white buds in his mouth for weeks.  At least I think I’ve seen them.  I’m known to make things up given my proclivity to fiction, so who knows what’s really been there and for how long.  Let’s just say I’ve seen white buds. 

He’s drooled, and long stretches of baby spit have worn me like a bracelet or chain or wedding band on most mornings.  I leave the house, stand up to preach, go to the grocery store with the boy’s slob spots dotting my shoulders.  I’m used to it.  Which is a whole different blog post. 

He is  not teething if teething means doing something that he hasn’t been doing since forever.  I think he started drooling in his fourth week, which means if he is teething, it’s a long process.  Here is a summary of what waiting for his teeth is connecting me to these days, and it’s really not about teeth:

1) Things happen before you know it.  No really.  They do.  This kid’s teeth started forming in his mother’s womb.  Buds formed in his gums.  I don’t know when they’ll cut or break the skin, but the teeth were present even when I couldn’t see them.

2) There are things in the world that I can’t do.  This is not breaking news but it is a good reminder.  I can no more control my life and all that comes with it than I can make my son’s smile form.  His mouth is a hole, one that gurgles and sings, but I can’t pull those baby teeth from those white buds.

3) Waiting is waiting.  I wait well on some things.  Like the boy’s teeth.  I’m good with his teeth taking their time.  I’m in no rush for him to bite me, for me to stop him from biting me (which means me biting him back as long as it takes for him to get the picture).  So I can wait on him.  For those things that I want right now, there’s the season of teething, the span of time from “in your mother’s womb” til “cutting the skin.” 

4) In between the times, the boy will swallow without chewing.  God has formed his little body to do precisely that.  He swallows everything from oatmeal cereal and sweet potatoes to squash and formula.  He’s made to get through this stage.  The natural course of things being what it is, his teeth will come.  Whenever.

5) Everything feels different with teeth.  Having had teeth for a while, I know that soon my finger will feel differently in the boy’s mouth.  In fact, everything feels new with teeth.  We’ll be more cautious.  He’ll learn new skills.  But things will change.