Happy Easter, Sad Easter**

Instagram finally became available for Android users last week and I downloaded it with great excitement – ready for yet another way to social medialize my life. I’m learning how I will best use it – but I am just happy I never gave in and got an iPhone just so I could have Instagram (such was the extent of my jealousy for those who could use the handy app) – I love my droid phone (even though it died on me once). [Note: I just read this article on Facebook acquiring Instagram – I hope this means it will improve but I’m a little fearful.]

So here’s our Easter according to Instagram:

A gazillion plastic eggs stuffed with all manner of peanut butter-free candy. Plus three Lightning McQueen “eggs” for three very lucky little boys.

The best of the Easter photo attempts. Also the first time the boys were in dissimilar or non-matching outfits for a holiday. I blame stress for this lapse, that and Simon’s extreme dislike for my propensity to want to coordinate them (his aversion clearly stems from the fact that he and his brother wanted to dress alike for years – according to his sister, they cried if they had to wear different clothes).

Liam amused himself for far too long by rocking wildly in my parents’ chair. For this I blame the massive amounts of sugar he consumed – we allow the boys to eat as much candy as they want for Easter and after that limit them to 1-2 pieces a day until I can pawn the rest of the candy off on Simon’s staff of college students.

An hour before we were going to sit down with the whole family and eat Easter dinner, Jack was playing in the garden (dangerous place, apparently) and managed to fall and smash his face on a rock. I was inside and Simon and my dad were outside. My dad came in and said I had better go check it out so I took a washcloth and ice because this was not my first rodeo.

After 30 minutes or so he managed to cry himself to sleep, but not before trying to insist that he was all right and could keep playing outside, only to be freaked out by the broken piece of tooth that was still hanging on in his mouth (I do not blame him at all for that freak out, to quote him, it was not my favorite, either). So I cuddled him until dinner time, at which time he woke up and we gave him children’s Motrin and he was more or less content to sit on the couch and watch Backyardigans while I ate dinner next to him and had a much-needed glass of wine. In the meantime we called various dentists in my parent’s city and then ended up talking to our own family dentist who said we could come in Monday morning first thing or call him later in the day if Jack was inconsolable (Simon was ready to jump in the car and head home, further proving I’m the more level-headed one in our relationship – we all have our strengths; me, I’m good in a crisis). By the time we were done eating he only seemed bothered if he felt the tooth piece move but was very gung-ho to do the Easter egg hunt so we let him join in, with a spotter to keep from smashing his face again – we aren’t completely irresponsible parents. At some point in consuming jelly beans, he must have knocked the tooth piece loose because I checked his mouth and it was no longer there and after that he didn’t really complain about his mouth, except to indicate that the rest of his mouth sort of hurt.

Monday morning the upper part of his mouth was fairly swelled and more bruised but the tooth wasn’t loose or overly sensitive. A quick trip to the dentist for x-rays showed that the nerve has probably been exposed due to the back of the tooth sheering off but the bone and underlying structure was undamaged. Our dentist was amazing with Jack and ensured that despite the reason for the visit, the visit itself was a super positive experience. He referred us to a pediatric specialist and we have an appointment for Friday to determine next steps (i.e., extraction vs. capping). It may be that the tooth is broken too far back and cannot be salvaged and the dentist hit the nail on the head when he said that we’d just have to deal with the emotional aspect of losing the tooth because dentally or medically, it wouldn’t ultimately make a huge difference. It would certainly suit Jack to be missing a front tooth because that kid is an all-in sort of child, always on the run and seldom kept down by anything. It does not surprise me at all that this has happened. Not at all.

But this Easter, while still happy, will still be the Easter we remember as the one where Jack nearly knocked his tooth out.

**I nearly titled this post, Sunday, Bloody Sunday but decided against it 😉