The Worst Sound in a Mother's World

They say moms know the cries of their children. In a crowd of people, when one child starts crying, there's not usually a lot of debate about whose child it is because his or her mom just knows.

And of those cries, there is one that strikes fear into a mother's heart. It is the cry of pain. It is the, "Something is terribly wrong, prepare to see blood or protruding body parts" cry. And the most terrifying moment is between when you hear the cry and see the damage because you don't know what you'll find.

I heard that cry yesterday. I heard it approaching our door, and I heard it in full volume once Erik brought in a screaming Ethan. A big part of me didn't want to go see what happened, as though not looking would make it not real.

This hasn't happened often in Ethan's life, for which I am immensely grateful to God. The last time was when he tripped on the stairs and knocked out his front tooth. As a mom, when your child has an accident like that, there has to be a conscious choice to put aside your own instinctive desire to panic in order to calm your child. When I saw the blood coming out of Ethan's mouth this time I thought two things. First, "don't panic!" and second, "There goes another tooth."

What happened is this: Ethan had the end of a beach towel in his mouth, and a friend was pulling the other end (are you cringing yet?). You know how you break the wishbone at Thanksgiving? Something's gotta give. It was Ethan's tooth. Fortunately, it didn't completely pull out of his mouth, but it's quite loose. He spent an hour or so putting gauze on it. We tried to get him a shake from McD's but the one close by only had McFlurry's.

He seems not much worse for wear, and I am realizing that what mothers fear most can be endured (again, thank God it was nothing worse!). I did start teaching him how to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" just in case.