I Gave Birth to An Opera-Singing And Biting Beaver
One day I woke up to find that my baby had turned into a beaver. The metamorphosis started when the first little teeth appeared.
First, it was the upper incisor, then the lower one. On closer inspection, they reminded me of a stapler. ‘Be careful’, I remembered the grumbling voices of experienced mothers, ‘If your baby gets teeth like a stapler, it can hurt like hell. Once, my baby bit so hard while nursing that I had a hole in my nipple.’
Its teeth bite into my nose
Still lying in bed when my baby opens his eyes and smiles at me with his two little teeth, I think to myself: ‘Oh, they look so cute.’ But after a few seconds, the rush of hormones I experience when looking at my angelically smiling baby wears off. My child rolls from his back to his stomach and comes crawling towards me, almost as if he were sprinting. Then, smiling broadly, he lunges at me with his arms outstretched, climbs up me, his hands claw at my face and hair, his teeth bite into my nose. I realise, I have a beaver on my hands!
My little beaver explores not only my face with his little hands and new teeth. In the oral phase, everything that is not nailed down is taken into his mouth and explored. I’ve read that the tongue is the most sensitive part of little explorative human babies. I’ve read that they put toys in their mouths — but my nose? Surely his little teeth are irritating him, I think to myself. Poor thing.
Its claws pull out a tuft of my hear
But then he reaches for my hair again, pulls at it and pulls out a tuft. When I look in the mirror later, I think to myself, I’m sure I’ll see a few more hairs growing back. I look like a hedgehog. My regrown hair stands on end at the front of my hairline. I had heard that the hormone surges after birth can cause the hair to fall out, but I hadn’t read anything about it being pulled out.
‘Maybe he wants to have hair too?’ my husband says, trying to calm me down. ‘Look at him. His head is completely bald.’ I look at him and touch his head. To be honest, he really is. Only a gentle down is to be felt. I wonder if that’s the reason. Maybe he’s collecting my long hair and wants to make a hair nest or a wig out of it? It’s possible. After all, he’s very talented.
Its strong teeth grind everything
He skillfully gnaws at the cover of our couch and the metal legs of our sideboard. Even the rocking chair with its wooden legs is gnawed. His tooth enamel must be good and strong. I type ‘Beaver’ in the search engine and Google it. I find out that the front of the rodent’s tooth contains iron oxide, which is why they look orange. Pooh…I’m grateful that my baby’s teeth are white as chalk. By the way. I wonder, what he would do if I gave him chalk in his hand — but that’s not the point now.
I read on…’When gnawing, the beaver constantly grinds his hard teeth.’ In the back of my mind, I conclude that, with babies’ milk teeth, it’s similar. They grind their teeth into the appropriate shape.
He ‘fells’ boxes and builds towers
He comes crawling towards me againat breakneck speed. But fortunately, this time, he’s not out to get me. There are empty boxes in the hallway. He pounces on them. He tears them apart or ‘fells’ them with his teeth and hands while he gurgles happily. Then he begins to stack the cardboard.
From afar, it looks as if he were building a tower. As I read on, I see another similarity. The beavers’ strong jaw muscles enable them to fell trees… and to build little castles.
He shows the iconic beaver chew mark: cardboard books in an hourglass shape
Moreover, if I take a closer look at his books, which are chewed and slobbered on until they are no longer readable, I see that the thicker cardboard books’ spines now have an hourglass shape. Unbelievable, I say to myself. That’s so iconic. A beaver chew mark!
He sings operas with a high-pitched voice
However, there are differences. While the beaver spends a lot of time in the water, my baby is on land most of the time. He only splashes around in the water now and then and doesn’t like to submerge his head.
Moreover, he loves to ‘sing’ in a high-pitched opera-style voice. Glasses and windows sometimes hum when he starts vocalizing. To be honest, I’m impressed by my little beaver. He vocalizes daily, doesn’t need any amplification, and trains over and over again. In the morning, he is already warming up by vocalizing all the way to the top of his range. I think he’s maybe working on his technique to sing higher. I’m not an expert, but singing lower is also important for the opera, isn’t it?
He is nocturnal
Finally, however, I would like to talk about a great similarity between my son and the rodent, which confirms my belief that he has transformed into a beaver. They are both nocturnal. But fortunately, with my baby, it was only in the beginning that he was awake the whole night.
But if I asked him if, instead of sleeping, he would rather gnaw, bite, build towers and sing at night, I’m sure he would turn completely into a beaver and I don’t want that.
With love for all rodent babies of this world.
Live🥳, love😘, and laugh😂!
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Emma Hiatt Wilson Adrienne Beaumont Ching Ching Kerala Taylor Jennifer Just Meha Chiraya Amie LeBlanc Ivona Lupa Rice & Beans Niru London Eyes Dona Mwiria Rosy Gee Kayle Bain Journey of discovery
