Grasping for straws

I think Leah is teething. This seems to happen progressively earlier with each child. Thing 1 was almost 12 months old when his first pearly white popped through his gums. David appeared to be teething for a couple months before his first made an appearance at around six months. And now poor Leah at barely four months old.

I could be wrong, I've certainly been wrong before. You'd think with two children with most of their teething behind them that I'd have learned something about the cues and symptoms of teething. Nope. Not really. I've become that mother who basically says "oh, he's teething" anytime her child is grumpy or tired. And then maybe four weeks later a tooth will erupt and I'll still wonder if there was any correlation to the "grumpy" day. I'm going to go out on a limb and declare teething as the most difficult challenge I've met in motherhood. Your child is in pain, when they are young they cannot even explain to you what they are feeling. It hurts, and they often end up with a plethora of other unpleasant side effects . . . clear runny nose, runny, messy poops (which may or may not at any point result in a sore bum and diaper rash), low grade fever, difficulty sleeping, general crankiness, etc.

I *think* I can see a little lump beneath the surface of Leah's lower gums. I rubbed it and it does seem to feel lumpish (my new word of the day). She's been pulling her ears for a couple days, hard enough to leave little scratches all over the side of her head. She's been having trouble napping and even waking at night - which she hasn't done in a while. (Don't throw a shoe at your screen, it's just statistical - eventually one gets a child that sleeps through the night early on). She cried a number of times today, another hand I'm not typically dealt in the course of my day. So I'm interested to see if my theory is right and Thing 3 will get her first tooth at four months old, winning the "earliest to get a first tooth" contest and putting her big brothers to shame.