What we didn't know.

When Axel's teeth were rotting out of his head, we just assumed he was in pain. He gave us no indication that he was, but how could he NOT be?

When he ate, he very carefully, and with great intention, used his tongue to move bites of food around in his mouth to what we assumed were less sensitive spots.

It's been a week since his dental work was done. Saturday he ate THREE bowls of cereal for breakfast. He hasn't done that again since, but man! Guess he was hungry!

Last night I was having problems sleeping and was sitting on the couch at 2:00 a.m. when I kept hearing his strange, rythmic noises. I had no clue what it was, but figured it had something to do with the wind we've been having here.  Finally after about 15 minutes I went to investigate. The noise was coming from Axel's room. He was laying on his stomach, banging his face on his pillow. I've only seen him do this a couple of times, but never has it lasted so long. Apparently his face doesn't hurt anymore so he can do it for prolonged periods.

And finally, the latest discovering was made this morning. When I went in to wake him up for the day he was sucking his thumb. I've never seen him suck his thumb, nor does he do ANY finger chewing like so many kids with Down syndrome do. Angela's hands are full of callouses from her doing it in her sleep. (she used to do it when awake too, but we haven't seen it in well over a year.....knocking on wood.) Axel has no such callouses so this habit is either brand new, or reborn since his teeth no longer hurt.