Seasoned Mom...what's that?

I think it's so cool that as Moms, we need each other. God reminds me of that as He uses mother friends (including my Mom, grandmothers, and aunts!) to encourage and advise me. It's amazing how it can be so hard to see something that is right in front of my face; I'm just too close to the situation. This happened on Friday.
Ethan woke up with a fever. I lamented the beginning of the flu in our house, assuming it was that as many friends have been battling it. Fever is one of the common symptoms. The worst part of it all was that I had commitments and a fun date night with Bob planned for that day! As I worked through that and many other obstacles the day presented, I was thankful that God has been changing me. A while back, this would have thrown me into a tale spin as I tried to change the situation or at least make the desired outcome happen. I was reminded that I needed to just surrender to whatever the day held, and I tried to proceed with meeting Ethan's needs and rearranging plans. As I was discussing Ethan's symptoms with Christine (fever but great appetite and normal behaviors and nap), she asked, "Do you think that he might be cutting teeth?" As I started to think through this, my first thought was that I didn't think so. It was kind of funny though because I was commenting on how the kids tend to get a bad rash when they cut teeth...and it dawned on me that last weekend he had a horrible rash! (I hadn't put that together with the fever as it was 5 days ago.) Hmmmm...Hours later, I was sharing this with another friend, and she mentioned that her kids chew on their fingers. Another memory came to mind; Ethan was chewing on his fingers the night before, after hanging out with some kids that 1 of whom sucks her fingers. Since it looked like what she does, I thought that he was just copying her. Maybe not. Since the fever hasn't returned and he's been perfectly fine since, the data seems to point to teeth (2 year molars?). I don't think I would have even though of it in spite of going through the teething of 3 kids, but thanks to a fellow Mom, the mystery was solved and Bob and had our date! 8)