Teething – or bubonic plague
Zoe had a slight fever yesterday; since she didn’t have any other symptoms, we wondering if teething might be the culprit. (She’s still a little behind on getting her teeth, and it looks like her canines could pop through any day now.) We’ve blamed teething on all sorts of things (a fever, a runny nose, a bad mood, etc.) in the past, and I couldn’t help but be reminded today of a funny passage in a book (“Waiting for Birdy“) given to me by a friend:
“…Can we all agree that teething is a little overrated? I’m not saying that I wouldn’t find it very distracting and maybe even a little painful to have bicuspids poking up in my gums like arrowheads. I’m sure I would drool a lot, I’m sure I would complain. But teething seems to be the PMS of the parenting world – it is invoked to explain everything. Friends of mine used to bring their babies to our play group with 104-degree fevers and terrible consumptive coughs, and when I’d look alarmed, they’d just shake their heads: Teething. Of course. Teething or, you know, the bubonic plague. It also seems to account for all kinds of unsavory behavior. ‘Oh, is he teething?’ people used to ask sweetly when Ben was, say, going beserk in a parking lot. ‘Oh, no,’ I used to shake my head. ‘He’s just a bad baby.'”
-M