Seriously?!?!?

Maddie has been in a particularly bad mood for the last couple of days. She has been whiny and testing her boundaries a LOT which equals a lot of defiance. I know that the "terrible twos" are quickly approaching us, and I expect her to be defiant to a degree, but this is just NOT my child. I was thinking that maybe she is sensing that something is happening.....maybe she can tell that we're about to go through a big life change or maybe she knows that I am in pain and a lot slower at responding with redirecting her.....maybe she is taking advantage? I mean it's nothing big that she's doing, just not listening and doing things over and over again after I tell her not to. I even tried a time out yesterday.....she sat there for it, but I have no idea if she understood what was going on. It has been a mystery.....that is until today.

So this morning I went in to get her up at 7:30 which is late for her, she is usually making noise at 6:45 and I go in and get her at 7:00. Well when I get in there she is still lying down and she barely lifts her head and starts crying and saying help, help in a totally sad voice. I get over to her and notice that her right eye is fused shut with crusty goop. I figured that she had an eye infection of some sort and got a wash cloth with warm water and cleaned all the goop out, I also too her temp and it was 101.5. She seemed fine though after I cleaned her eye although she was extra clingy for most of the morning. I called Dan at work and he proceeds to tell me that last night when he was getting her ready for bed he put vusion butt ointment on her and she reached down and touched her creamy butt and then wiped her right eye with her fingers. He wiped her hand off, but didn't think that she got any in her eye. Apparently she did. So I call the doctor to find out what the deal is with butt cream in her eye and what I need to do.....they said as long as it wasn't still seeping goo that she should be fine. I also told them about the low grade fever and they said that I should bring her in.....the two sounded unrelated and she could have something like an ear infection. (she has never, ever had an ear infection before) So, eye issue and toddler moodiness apparently not related. Maybe the fever and the mood are?

I call my mom and talk to her for a while about Maddie and her difficulties these past few days. I complain about taking her to the doctor, I don't like to take her unless it's really necessary because every time they say there isn't anything they can do, just keep her hydrated and happy and whatever it is that is wrong will run it's course.....and she HATES going to the doctor, so why even bother? Anyway, I'm still talking to my mom and I look down and Maddie has a huge wet mark on her pant leg, it looked like maybe her diaper leaked, but in a weird spot. I smell it (yeah, I know it's gross, but hey.....I'm a mom) and it's not pee. It then dawns on me that it is drool......and that much drool usually only means one thing......TEETH. I start to remember some of the tell tale signs from the last few days, like Maddie chewing on one of the couch cushions, and chewing on her sippy cup, and chewing on pretty much anything that she had in her hands. Stupid me, I even made a comment earlier this week about her reverting back to putting everything in her mouth and how she hadn't done that for months and months. So, I stick my finger in her mouth and feel around and sure enough, half of a molar is already sticking through on the upper left hand side, and I can feel the rest of the molar just waiting to make its way out. Poor baby. She has been teething all this time which is no fun and can totally explain her unusual moodiness and all around grump behavior. I didn't even consider it before today because for the first time in almost 15 months we have had a couple month break from the teething.....leave it to Maddie to get her 2 year molars 4 months early. The girl is a tooth factory.

So, not only are we dealing with trying to get the house in order and ready for a new baby, we now get the pleasure of a teething toddler. We only have the one molar that has started to come through which means that the other 3 buggers are going to rear their ugly heads in the coming weeks as well, because Maddie has NEVER just gotten one tooth at a time, she gets them all.....all at once. It's not really that bad for Dan and me because now that we know what's going on, we know how to deal with it, but I feel so bad for Maddie. I can't imagine being in pain like that (well.....at basically 9 months pregnant I guess I can imagine!) and then going through the huge change that is about to come. I hope these teeth come in fast and that we are able to find ways to alleviate the pain for her. It's kinda funny in a not at all funny kinda way that Maddie is getting her last few teeth just in time for us to have another baby who may be just like her and start teething at 3 months old. Bleh. Teeth.