bringing new meaning to blue tooth.

My Chookie has always had a habit of breaking her falls with her face. We had witch hazel permanently on standby for the forehead lumps when she was a toddler. The first week of school she fell and skinned all round her eye. And four times she has clattered her mouth off of something. When she was 2 she fell off the ottoman in the kitchen and bust up her top gum. When she was 3 she fell and hit her mouth off the knob at the bottom of her bed - her tooth went grey and she couldn't suck her thumb for a week. This easter she fell on rollerblades and busted her lip up good style. But this last one? Last week when we were on holiday? This is her best yet. And could be terminal for her tooth. This could be about the last photo I have of her with her pretty - if crooked - grin.

As brief as I can make it, okay? Last Tuesday evening we were happily hanging out in CenterParcs in Sherwood Forest cycling back to our lodge after a day of adventure golf and swimming. Chook wasn't watching where she was going and left the road, rode into a ditch and - you guessed it - her face broke her fall. What looked like another spectacular burst lip became a bit more serious when she announced that a tooth was missing. One of her front permanent teeth. At A&E (3 hours later) a maxillofacial surgeon jagged her up, shoved the tooth back into place (Spouse found it in the dark, in a ditch, in a forest. Miracles do happen!) and stitched it into her gum before glueing a metal bar across it and 2 surrounding teeth.

We came home the next day.

Our own dentist has referred us to Glasgow dental hospital because she needs a fairly urgent operation to make sure it stays healthy. Basically root canal surgery. And some other stuff. The chances of it restabilising itself are good, apparently. In the meantime it's soft foods only which is a nightmare because she really can't afford to lose any weight. Playtimes at school are being spent inside and I've jimmied my lunch hour so I can bring her home to eat. She's going to miss the school Halloween disco (can't possibly risk all those flailing dancing arms!), can't have her riding lesson and is also missing the conclusion of her swimming block at school - the fun session with all the inflatables. Heartbroken doesn't begin to cover it.

Spouse and I had a couple of days of shock. Not from the accident, I think, but from the emergency room stuff. Spouse nearly fainted when the stitching began! Even I was a bit wobbly (and I'm good with blood and stuff!) and I'm not feeling very bloggy but have actually been sewing so I may pop back in sooner than I think. And the blue tooth reference? The glue holding the metal in place is electric blue - she has 3 blue teeth, there's no missing her when she grins!