They call him Fang

I can't believe it has happened. At 7 months and 16 days, my baby has gotten his first tooth. And in true Pete fashion, there has not been much fuss or fanfare: No swollen gums, no epic diarrhea, no screaming fits at night. Just Happy Mr. Pete. He's been fighting a cold (a, real, honest-to-goodness, green boogers and all cold) since last Friday, so when the boogs turned clear yesterday, I just assumed that he was on the mend. And I swear that I've had my hands in his mouth everyday this week, so the little bugger must have popped through today. It's the most minuscule tooth ever, but it's there, poking it's little head through his gums. I had forgotten what a brand new baby tooth feels like. Sigh.

Both Emerson and I were late bloomers in the dental department. She didn't get her first tooth until 10 months (after a solid month of waking multiple times nightly), and I didn't get mine until I was around a year old. So I just assumed that Pete would follow that same schedule. But this kid is a Girling through and through, and his biological clock is not wound the same way that ours are.

So, here's the kicker (as in kick-Mama-in-the-gut). At lunch today, it was just the 2 of us (E was at school). And I said to him "Pete, I feel like your babyhood is passing me by." He just gurgled and drooled and grabbed the spoonful of pumpkin and apple out of my hand. So, when Jeff told me to feel in his mouth tonight, I was a bit overcome. (Read as: weepy)

I simply cannot believe how fast this first year is going.

With kid #1, the whole world revolved around her. By the time she was 7 1/2 months old, I could tell you her friends, her likes and dislikes, her favorite activities. With Pete, I feel like he's "just the baby." He has to compete with her for my attention (and she's an Alpha female, let me tell you!), so he often just gets dragged along on whatever activity she's doing. Of course, I can tell you his likes and dislikes and his favorite activities, but it's just so different this time around. I know that he'll never know the difference because he doesn't know what it is like to be the only, and I know that he is loved and adored, but I can't help feeling a heaping helping of Mom Guilt about all that's different.

But for now, I'm rejoicing in this milestone and simultaneously hugging the heck out of that little man.