Kiss My Knits!

Em was monkeying around in the bathtub and slipped and bumped her chin. She chipped her top front right (permanent!) tooth and she is very anxious about it. Poor kid.

I remember when I chipped my bottom teeth. I was about her age, out on the playground at my day care. A bunch of kids were practicing wrestling moves. Remember, this was the American South in the 70’s, professional wrestling was very popular with the little boys. One tried some kind of move on me, moving behind me and hoisting me up under my ribcage kind of like a Heimlich maneuver. I fell to the ground like a ragdoll, unconscious. Our playground was covered rocks, probably chosen for good drainage rather than kid friendliness, and that’s what caused the tooth chip.

Weirdly, while I was out, I could hear people around me, but was absolutely incapable of opening my eyes or moving. Then suddenly, it was like this switch turned in my head and I thought, “well, I guess I’d better open my eyes” and suddenly I could. I know I had no muscle control before that, because when I came to, I had also peed myself. Hey, I was a kid, I was knocked out, these things happen! I don’t think anybody noticed, since none of the kids remarked on it later.

Needless to say, there was quite a crowd of children gathered over me, staring down at the unconscious kid. I think someone had just finally run off to get a teacher when it became apparent that I wasn’t getting up. I don’t remember what they told my mom, but I remember that the teachers stayed teachers so I guess she didn’t actually kill anybody involved, which showed great restraint on her part. I also remember that for the rest of the play period, the other kids would pretend they were getting knocked out. I guess I was the star attraction that day.

I was glad to be able to tell Em that I also had chipped teeth and that I was just fine, so she would be too. Still, I’ll call the dentist tomorrow.