If you read this blog moderately regularly, you know the little guy has really been “challenging” the last few weeks, as he has been sick.  I also suspected he was also teething, but I kind of realized that this is just what all optimistic parents say and want to believe when they have a whiny, runny-nosed, generally difficult to deal with baby or toddler.

To my surprise, tonight when I was changing his diaper, when he started crying because he was tired and did not want to be there, I saw a new tooth!  This puppy was on the upper right-hand side, and was back a little way.  In other words, it was not right behind the existing teeth.

I had seen on a box for “teething rusks” (super interesting product, by the way) that the canine’s come in after the first molars, which is weird, but it somehow makes sense if you think about what toddlers eat and the kind of teeth they would need.  But of course this information I had to go with was on a box for a product that a company was trying to sell, so I was a little less trusting of that information.

Sure enough, the information checks out!  Not only did my son’s tooth come in where it should, it also came in on schedule with the information I could find.  Here’s an image I found at Baby Center:

A general guideline for when the teeth come in:

• Upper Incisors (middle two teeth): 8-13 months
• Upper First Molar (front molar): 13-19 months
• Upper Canine: 16-22 months
• Upper Second Molar 25-33 months
• Bottom Incisors: 6-16 months
• Bottom First Molar: 14-18 months
• Bottom Canine: 17-23 months
• Bottom Second Molar: 23-31 months

I think the most interesting thing about this is how much is happening in the baby’s life.  They are either just about to start walking, or they are walking, so if you think about it, they will need the energy that they will get from eating more food, and more carbohydrates.  The emergence of teeth, like molars, at this time would have been what would help to grind things like grains.  Amazing!