i was born with the clumsy gene. my body grew faster than my brain could catch up. and so growing up i was all long lean spidermonkey limbs flailing about poking people in the eyeball.
i cant tell you how many times i have broken/sprained my pinky toes.
or how many times i have tripped over something invisible in public.
embarassed myself in front of huge crowds.
or stepped off of curbs/stairs just at the right angle to tweak my ankle.
there was even a family i babysat for in high school, who eventually bought me my own special plastic cup to use at their house, because no joke-every time i sat for them, one of their glasses would go slipping from my butterfingers and crash onto the tile floor. even if i tried not to USE one, if i did the dishes or cleaned up? CRASH ONTO THE TILE.
its a huge family joke that im this big ditz when it comes to paying attention to my body vs its surroundings. or at least it used to be, thankfully i have grown out of a LOT of this stuff. (jeff would definitely disagree)
and guess who inherited this from me?
drew.
my poor, gangly, long-lean-spidermonkey-limbed child. who just doesnt know where his body ends and where the pavement begins.
this kid, who is SO thoughtful and responsible about his family and what we need done around here, cannot be trusted to hold a drink in the car, to carry food on a plate from point A to point B, or do anything at all in the kitchen. it is a guarantee that anything messy, sloshy, sticky, or wet will get on his clothes or the floor.
and while i managed to go through my life without any major injuries (never broke a bone and only got stitches once. but that wasnt my fault, a fly ball came out of the sky and beaned me in the face in third grade. my bottom teeth went through my lip. i remember people saying WAAAAAAAATCH OUUUUUUUUUUUT and i looked right up into the sky to see what they were talking about. so actually, maybe it was my dumb fault after all!) drews laundry list of accidents is sure to skyrocket past mine soon.
take, for example, his most recent “oopsydaisy”.
on a friday night a week or so ago, we had friends out (matt and lisa and seamus and finn) and got pizzas to take to the pool. so we packed up the car and hauled ourselves down there. our pool is not far from our house, but we like to pack everything up in a car and take it all down. plus, who are we kidding? tara doesnt like to walk anymore than she has to. the move from house to pool was pure comedy, we couldnt have written a better sitcom script, with several kids running off ahead and one of the adults RUNNING after, trailing pool toys and towels. all of us yelling at each other “ive got mckenna!” “ive got finn!” etc etc, and i think jeff or i hollering at one of the kids who just WOULD NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE. we finally get out the door with me holding a drink in my hand and a towel over one arm, trying to back out of the driveway, and putting said drink down on the floor to crank the wheel with both hands, when said drink spilled all over my feet and jeffs newly detailed car. yes. newly detailed. i also managed to drive over my neighbors brand new “baby grass” at the corner of his lawn, and leave a huge clue whodunnit. our muddy tiremarks all down the street. (he forgave me)
we get down to the pool, there wasnt a parking spot. so i stop to let everyone out. suddenly, there are cars that come out of nowhere, one behind me waiting patiently, one trying to go the other way but cant because our doors are open and mckenna is freaking out about not having her red innertube. jeff is trying to herd the kids and the people and the stuff to the gate at the pool and i say “dont worry about the pizzas-ill grab them!”
i pull away, let the traffic pass and find a spot across the street. i sigh a sigh of relief. finally, we can relax. the kids can play. we can talk and share some pizza and beers. awesome.
i grab the pizzas and walk across the street to the pool, open the gate, and see everyone staring into the pool at drew. “whats wrong?” i ask. jeff tells me drew chipped his tooth. drew sees me and starts bawling. lisa tells me he dove in and came up with a chipped tooth. i still have four large hot pizzas in my arms.
i tell drew to get out, i put the pizzas down, and i survey the damage.
its bad, a really really bad chip in his front adult tooth. but thankfully, he doesnt seem to be in more pain than you would imagine after bashing your face into the bottom of the pool. he is tender, but there is no nerve damage to the tooth. also thankfully, THANKFULLY, nothing worse happened than a chipped tooth. it could have been a LOT worse. he is upset, and scared about what this means of course. i do my best to calm him down, explaining what i think will happen at the dentist, giving him as much information as possible to soothe his fears, and to get his mind back on the fun evening we have planned.
but its sore, and he is upset, and starving. he hadnt eaten dinner and now with the tooth and his sore mouth, pizza was impossible. i promise him a huge chocolate shake when we leave, and he resumes his play. WITHOUT ANYMORE DIVING. FOREVER AND EVER AMEN.
after probably an hour of drama, we all finally settle down and the rest of the night goes fabulously. the kids play, we eat and drink, and talk.
here is the damage.
an emergency dental visit the next morning, tears on his paper bib, a veneer for his front tooth, and an $850 dental bill. finding that out sucked pretty bad. our dentist, who i HIGHLY RECOMMEND (this coming from a person who has great fears of the dentist) was so sensitive and wonderful with him, and gave him lots of numbing gel and he truly did not even feel his shot. he explained every single move he made and i wanted to cry watching how careful he was with my child.
today we had to go back to get his permanent veneer put on, and once again drew was a trooper. it is our first day of summer, so the whole gang came along, and nathan sat by his side and held his hand and made me want to squeeze him until his eyeballs popped out.
and when we left, they gave us cupcakes. im telling you, WHAT KIND OF FREAKING COOL DENTIST GIVES YOU CUPCAKES WHEN YOU LEAVE?
holy crap, now that’s a chip! dang! i’m always the pyscho mom on the side of the pool yelling “feet first!!”. see..this is why. you’ll break your dang teeth right off. i’m showing my kids as soon as they get home from bike riding (which of course i yelled “wear your helmet!!”).
high fives to drew for being a trooper through it all!
oooh that sucks. Luckily it wasn’t worse.
Drew looks like he was in a guac eating contest in the bottom picture!
Oh man! I so know how that hurts! I was about 10 and playing tag with my cousin. He chased me around an eagle’s nest (that big round climbing thing that was NOT an eagles’s nest when I was a kid) and I grabbed hold of the bar, swung around and totally crashed my face. In fact, my tooth has almost the exact crack that poor Drew’s has! My oldest is getting into that gangly stage (12) and I am so worried about the rest of us especially since I am not the most graceful of women :) Poor guy. Lots of ice cream and popsicles :)
dude. I soo want your dentist.
Heaven forbid, this will probably be my child! My leg fell half-asleep this morning and as I walked down the stairs it gave out and I almost broke my toe. It still hurts. I feel ya, I’ve tripped going UP stairs, too, in public, spilling hot chocolate, dropping my cell phone, and landing on my face.
I’m glad Drew didn’t do anymore damage than a chipped tooth! I know so many adults that have had that happen to them and you would never know if they didn’t tell you. Good luck getting through the rest of the summer! By the way, I love his hair.
holy freaking CRAP – not only is that the best dentist ever, but you have the best boyos ever.
too bad you went to the dentist so quickly *written toung FIRMLY in cheek *- Drew could’ve told everyone he fought some Hells Angels and won, defending his momma’s honor.
Looks like fun. Hope you boy dosen’t have too bad of a gag reflex. That makes things a little more interesting.
Bummer! I’m glad it wasn’t worse though! My nephew chipped his tooth in our pool last summer – he thought he’d somehow jump with the kick board from the jacuzzi to the pool (about a 2 foot drop) – it was one of those things where I totally saw it coming but couldn’t stop it in time – sure enough he hit the water holding the kick board that landed flat on the water and his face smashed right into it, chipping his tooth (not nearly as bad as poor Drew).
I wish we lived closer to you, your dentist sounds great. I haven’t found a good one here (Temecula). Certainly not one that gives out CUPCAKES! Lucky you!
OMG! What a story! Drew is such a trooper and Nathan holding his hand? Broke my little heart right in two.
My daughter’s orthodontist gives out giant bags of sticky candy when kids get their braces off. My daughter almost passed out when this happened to her. It was like she won the lottery. Of course I looked at it and thought “Seriously? All that money on braces and this is the pay off?! Her dentist will be happy…” :)
awwww the poor baby!
i feel so badly for him!
and nate what a sweetheart too to hold his hand!
drew is a trooper for sure and your dentist sounds just like mine!
AWESOME!
tara
Let me just preface with I NEVER read long blog entries, but I stuck through this one and what a story! Poor thing. Hopefully he’s up to speed soon:)
The cupcakes are pure genius.. you eat them..your teeth suffer.. you come back.. WHAT a marketing tool.. guaranteed success.. I think you should offer the dentist a session and call it even.. ;)
That photo made me wince tho.. the next made me laugh.. I do love your blog…
How are Jeff’s brownie points coming along?
Awwww poor Drew!!!! :)
And cupcakes? How cool is that!
What a story Tara! All that chaos and ending with a chipped tooth. Poor Drew.
I was horrified when my 18 month old chipped his front tooth ever so slightly. Of course I blogged about it too: http://www.TheNilesFamily.blogspot.com/2007/08/chipped-tooth.html
Your dentist rocks. ;)
ok, that was AWESOME. i laughed and then almost cried and laughed pretty hard again when you said you wanted to squeeze nathan until his eyeballs popped out. thats how i feel about conner all the time. and yes, your dentist ROCKS. im glad to hear it was only a chipped tooth. phew.
I did the same thing as a kid. I grew up in Buffalo where we have basements. One day my cousins and I were running around chasing eachother, I tripped, my cousin fell on me and pushed my face into the concrete, chipping my adult front tooth. It was horrible, and the timing was terrific, the weekend before school pictures!!!!!!!
Aww. Poor guy. So glad he didn’t get more hurt. His teeth look exactly like our sons teeth.
Oh, I so understand you on the klutzy thing. I seriously sprained an ankle picking up a tennis ball in my college tennis class! tehehe . . .was so bad, I was on crutches for a month! Had to attend 2 of my own bridal shower with an air cast and crutches. Two of my kids have unfortunately inherited this gene.
Drew’s a trooper! That molding gunk makes me gap so bad. . . and he’s smiling! Can’t wait to see a repair pic.
Oh poor guy!!!
I had to respond since that is exactly the chip and size I had when I was around 8 yrs old (done screwing around in the bathtub) It sucks!!! I’ll tell ya-be prepared-at least the way my dentist did mine-I’ve had to have it replaced bout every 5-10 yrs…but he did mine like a filling-built up from the chip. I’ll bet a veneer is much better-post an after pic!
No more diving!! lol.
Amanda
Oh, the poor child. Been there, done that. I was thirteen years old, had just arrived in Portugal for a three year stint, and (kid you not) walked into a wall in the basement. Did that to both of my front teeth (no nerve damage, incredibly enough. You have to wonder, how is that possible?), had to fly back to the states to have it fixed. Thank the Almighty for dentists. I was not so pretty with those front teeth half broken off! :) What a trooper he is. And you too, mom.
I would go all the way to CA to go to that dentist!!! I LOVE cupcakes!!
thank god it was just a tooth! he looks so cute in his mouth mold. hope the veneer works well for him!
Oh I hear ya, my dh is always saying ‘honey, your body is moving faster than your brain’ or some crap like that, lol! What a trooper, he handled it in stride. My ds(they look to be about the same age) snapped off not one but both front adult teeth, at the beginning of last school year. He overshot one of those little square plastic scooter with wheels on the bottom, and smashed his mouth on the gym floor. Snapped both of them off in like an upside down ‘v’ shape. Weird tho, our dentist glued them back on and said he should wait to get the veneers until he is an adult?? and he didn’t give us cupcakes either. we got ripped off! :p
When I started to read your post I was like “HEY that’s me!”. I have always been a clumsy mess. And then I read the story about Drew and had to laugh because I DID THAT TOO. When I was about his age. Well, I went over a bike ramp to break both of my adult front teeth, but close enough. Now I think they have better technology to fix those broken teeth. Back then I had to suffer through temporary caps that always fell off for three years until my mouth was big enough to handle the permanant ones. Jr High school. Caps on front teeth that always fell off. As if being clumsy wasn’t enough, right?
When your child inherits one of your bad traits, isn’t that just the worst? I think you feel for them even more because you knew how helpless you were over the same things. I feel for you.
cool dentist!!! i’d love to have one that gives me sweets when i leave! just one itsy bitsy sweet! hmmm maybe it’s a ploy to get you going back there ya know… sugary stuff and all… glad to hear drew’s taking it well!
Doesn’t tenderness send you over the edge. I can think of movies where an act of great tenderness
make me bawl more than anything. I’m so thankful for your most excellent Doc.
Thankful that it wasn’t his NECK. (Feet first. First time) (I know it wasn’t the first time, but that’s the poem :o)
The pictures will be a treasure and you will say….’remember when’ every time you look at them!
Hope your tooth isn’t hurting you, Drew!!!
I was reading Ali Edwards blog, and she was having a hard time listing things to be thankful for- but, honestly, I am thankful for the Whitney kids!! I have 3 of my own and a stepson too, and I never tire of reading your latest silly/serious/touching installment. Do you know that you are doing a great job? When your kids step up and comfort each other, you know you are teaching them well!
Oh yikes!!!
That second picture is the bomb!!! Seems like something a boy would treasure with all that drippy, green goo.
i’m cracking up reading about your clumsy tendencies. =) i’m the same way, especially when it comes to tripping over invisible things. i’m also notorious for falling up stairs. seriously, not down but, up.
happy friday.
At first I thought this was maybe a ‘better half’ post but then you mentioned jeff’s name!
Loved the story though, even though Drew got a chipped tooth out of it.
Glad you had such a great experience at the dentist.
sorry about the chipped tooth- sounds like you have a great dentist….and I loved reading your story! :)
oh no… what a crazy day! i’m glad you have a super great dentist. i chipped my front left tooth in 3rd grade and got a veneer part to fix it. the funny thing was calling my mom from school to tell her… i didn’t know it at the time but i guess all 5 of my dad’s sisters chipped their front left tooth before graduating high school. she couldn’t believe i had done it too!
poor guy!!! how scary…the tears on the paper bib almost made me cry myself:(
cool picture of him with the goop in his mouth.
BTW, I got hit with a fly ball in the face too, only high school. and my teeth came through my lip also. not fun
at all
Tara, just in a total different note, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the images in your website are not corrected linked to what they mean. For example, when I click on the chubby baby pic, it shows me the portfolio for couples…not sure if this is how you wanted it to be ;-) just trying to help ;-)
Ohhhh *hugs to you both*
I completely understand the clumsy thing. In fact, back in the late 80’s I wrote an article about my clumsy life and it was published in the Des Moines register sunday paper. I have the mangled baby toes, scars on my feet from stitches, scars on my forehead (by – get this – jamming a pencil in and out of my forehead – actually my brother helped), I rolled a car once – that was bad, I tripped all the time, etc. Know what fixed it? No really, it can be fixed! I started working out. When I started lifting weights, I found this new balance and even tho I don’t work out anymore (I’m going back sometime soon), and I’ve gained a bunch of weight, I STILL HAVE MY BALANCE! YMMV :) And tell Drew that Jim Carey’s front tooth looks exactly the same as that one. No really, he had his veneer removed for dumb and dumber – and see how rich he is??
Lana
Awwww my Drewsicle!!! What a trooper indeed.
Awww, poor Drew!! I HATE going to the dentist too. Despise it actually.
But you definitely have an awesome one!!
$850 for one veneer – holy cow!! I can’t imagine it.
MAN! I wish I lived closer… I need a good dentist that is all about patient care (had a serious anxiety attack at my last visit). I think 7 hours of driving might be a bit much, though…
sigh. glad it was nothing too serious…
Have a great weekend!
Jen
No words. Just. It really could have been worse. Man.
Thank you for sharing your lives and hearts with us…this “chip clip” vignette had every emotion represented. Great Life Outtake!
This is SO going ot happen to my son… He has fallen face first since he could crawl… The last fall (at 2 3/4) resulted in nerve damage to the baby tooth. It is now grey and will stay that way until the permanent one comes in… I always check his mouth first when he falls. My friends think I’m crazy, but here we are with a grey tooth. When his adult teeth come in and he really starts acting like a boy, I’m going to loose my marbles!!!
Thanks for being so refreshing and honest. I love your blog!
OH CRAP!!!!!!! but isn’t the dental industry amazing these days. it is still one of my fears to have my kids wreck their perminent teeth IN THE FRONT. i’m so glad it got fixed. sorry about the sucky bill.
You make me LAUGH OUT LOUD! I can just imagine this whole thing. And poor fella! At least he got a cupcake.
I really feel for Drew and can relate with his experience. When I was in 6th grade, the Catholic grade school I went to did not have a gym so we occasionally had phy ed in the ‘Social Hall’ of my school. In between waiting for our turn at whatever activity we were learning that day, a friend and I decided it would be fun to do continuous cartwheels … which we did … with no shoes on … just socks on our feet. I slipped and fell forward on my face and cracked one tooth in half. I remember being so upset about it that i almost passed out. Thankfully we had a good dentist as well that helped to get my smile back in order. Just remember to cut the kernels off the cob of corn – not as fun to eat but tastes the same!
I love this story-it’s so my family. Trips to the ER. But I love the bit about Nathan and how it made you feel. My kids fight and drive me CRAZY, but in those rare moments when they stand up for each other it just makes me want to cry happy tears. Oh, and I am SOOO clumsy too…I put it down to poor eyesite and no peripheral vision. Sometimes I think I could do stunts with the falls I’ve taken. And I want your dentist. I am so scared of dentists,not only what they’ll do , but what they’ll say about how I haven’t taken care of my teeth. I can handle the drilling, but not the lecturing.
Tell Drew… that’s awesome. I chipped my tooth too (not the front one, my molar)! Can’t wait to see you guys again soon.
Job Security, those cupcakes! HOpe Drew is feeling better. That’s a bummer!!! Maybe you could barter with the dentist next time!!! They do that, you know! YOU’re pictures are worth more than the price of a veneer!
okay, i try not to be jealous of people, but a cupcake-giving dentist? i do have to admit that i am coveting that a bit.
EEEEKKKK!!!
I am so glad you were able to get it fixed so quickly-sorry however that it was so very pricey, but in the long run, we would pay anything for our children to not be self concious wouldn’t we?
I have been reading for a very long time, but never commented…until now. I adore your photography! Like, so much. I can’t tell you how excited I get every time you have a new post!!! I love to take ‘pictures’ of my kids, but I can’t seem to capture things the way you can. I will live through you!
Have a great weekend.