Quinn Chips a Tooth

One of the drawbacks of an urban school is a lack of playgrounds - boy, are we spoiled at Punahou School! Don't get me wrong, we love Lange Ley, but when they have breaks, the boys head "outside" to cement lanais, and there are no banyan trees, basketball courts, or Mock Orange Hedge mazes. I wasn't surprised when Quinn told us that often during their breaks many of the boys sit around trading the fútbol cards he wrote about in an earlier entry. It took Quinn a little while to amass enough cards to make an impact on "the market," so some of his early break-time activities were playing tag, running away from girls trying to touch his hair (?), or playing handball or catch with a small ball one of the boys might have brought to school. We were happy when we heard some of them began playing fútbol, though it was hard to imagine what kind of room they had for a game like that.

One afternoon we got a call from school - Quinn had chipped one of his front teeth after he was inadvertently tripped by a friend in a fútbol game as they ran to the ball. He's not sure why he didn't get his hands out to protect his face, but then again I'm not sure if a broken wrist would have been any better than a chipped tooth.

Erin took off to pick him up and bring him home, and when he walked through the door I saw a teary-eyed Quinn looking like a Jack-O-Lantern.

Luckily the chip wasn't that big, and there was no exposure of the nerve, but we immediately had to figure out how to get it fixed. The pediatrician we found after Jack got his first ear infection - ah, seems like such a far-off fond memory - referred us to a dentist, who told us to come in a few days later. For two days Quinn was beside himself (not to mention his mother!) as he wondered if one of his permanent teeth would be ruined for life. He was also very careful when eating ice cream - not that it stopped him from doing so or anything - and ripping meat. But we were glad not to see any discoloring of the tooth or any other sign that there had been more serious damage, as his dentist back home warned us about when we contacted her.

So later that week Quinn took the afternoon off from school, and he and Erin headed to the dentist. The appointment was brief, and when they walked through the door it was difficult to tell which tooth had been fixed, the repair was so good. Only by looking closely can one tell which it is, and while we don't know whether he'll have to have it redone when we return, Quinn's smiling happily again and back to eating steak and gnawing through baguettes.

Apparently fútbol during break has been banned, but Quinn's not that bummed; he's feverishly pursuing a trade for a coveted David Villa card.