Elody has been riding her bike without training wheels since the end of May. Being the stubborn little sister that she is she insisted on doing it about a week after Camryn learned. She didn't pick up quite as fast as Camryn did but within a couple days she was really pretty good and would take off and go as often as we would let her.
Less than a week after learning to ride she crashed and did this:
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| June 1st |
I honestly have NO idea how you crash and hit above and below your nose like this, but she did. Maybe at this point I should have realized how much damage she really could do on her bike...
Throughout June she really got good and even got to go with daddy and Camryn on the bike trails. I had noticed lately that she had gotten pretty confident, maybe too confident. I frequently had to remind her to slow down on corners and not to get too close to people while riding but she never seemed to crash. I was fully expecting a crash and figured a good skinned knee would eventually teach her that she had to be more careful.
Last Sunday, while I was not home of course, she crashed again. She did not get the skinned knee I expected. In fact she hit her face again, much like the first time, but this time she got her nose. And even worse than her nose was her mouth. She managed to knock out one front tooth and completely rip the skin on the inside of her lip away from her gums.
After deciding that her nose was okay we called the dentist and met him at his office (always fun on a Sunday night). He reassured us that we had definitely made the right decision to call him. He cleaned her up, sewed up the inside of her lip and sent her home with a special tooth box for the lost tooth.
Although I was tempted, I did not take any pictures while at the dentist office. I'm fairly certain nobody would want to see what I saw there! This picture was right after we got back home. I don't think this picture really shows how swollen it was.
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| Sunday night after accident |
By the next morning the swelling was much worse and it was starting to scab over. Camryn was so sweet, when she first saw her she said, "Oh Elody, you have a little bump, it's soooo cute!"
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| Monday morning |
Tuesday was probably the worst day. She was fully scabbed over, still swollen, and still couldn't eat. Yogurt and applesauce is okay for one day but by day 2 she was sick of it. She tried to pinch off and eat a muffin for lunch and just stood there and cried in pain. She couldn't really open her mouth and her front tooth (the one that wasn't knocked out) was loose and hurting. The poor little peanut was miserable and there was really very little I could do to help.
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| Tuesday Morning |
I finally got her in the tub which seemed to make her feel better but I still couldn't get her to smile :(
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| Tuesday afternoon |
By Tuesday night Elody was finally able to get small bites in. She ate nutrigrain bars and Gerber puff's snacks. The food helped her mood a lot by Wednesday morning she would smile!!
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| Wednesday morning |
Thursday- Happy 4th of July!! By Thursday the swelling was down significantly and some of the scab started peeling off.
Thursday night the scab on her mouth came off completely and the swelling was pretty much gone. My goofy girl was back!!!
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| Friday |
and she was more than ready to ride again!! She probably would have gotten back on her bike immediately but mommy needed a few days :/
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| Friday |
Saturday was HOT and the girls finally got to swim in the pool in the backyard.
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| Saturday afternoon |
The pool seemed to loosen the scab on her nose and my sweet little girl was finally almost all better! To celebrate we took the bikes to Libs Park and rode on the bike trail there for a while. I couldn't talk her into a toothy smile, she is still not real happy about losing a tooth :(
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| Saturday evening |
If you look closely you can see where the accident happened. The dark spots all over the sidewalk was blood. There is a slight drop off in the corners next to where she is sitting and I'm assuming her tire dropped off the side and caused the crash.
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| May 31, 2013 |
To be completely honest, it took me a couple days to accept that my sweet little girl will have a missing tooth for at least a year, maybe two. I would never tell her this, but I am sad to see her cute little smile changed so drastically. I really loved the cute little gap in her teeth! Of course she is still as beautiful as ever but it makes me a little sad to see that first baby tooth go. Losing your first tooth should be exciting, right?
