Another New Experience

So.. Thomas is teething and apparently these teeth are never going to actually come in.  He has not been at his best this weekend, and his sleep is suffering.  The problem is mostly naps- he's just not sleeping as long or as well as he had been.  Also, his third nap is short and he's probably going to be dropping it soon. We decided that the best way to help him is to make sure he's in bed early.  So far, that was working.  Until tonight, that is.  We put him to bed at 7:30 (which we've done the past couple of nights) - he was crying on and off since he woke from his last nap, but he ate okay and he seemed calm when we put him to bed.  He didn't make any kind of noise for about 5 minutes and then the crying began. It's been a while since he cried like that.  We gave it some time and ended up going into his room to check on him.  We don't ever do that at bedtime, but he was doing things he doesn't normally do at that time.  When we went into his room, he was trying so hard to go to sleep, but was shrieking in what we guessed was pain.  We checked his diaper, felt for a fever and then Tom felt his gums.  Thomas just chomped down on his finger and was going nuts.  We decided that the best bet was to put some Orajel on his gums and give him some Tylenol. We then left again.  After a few more minutes of screaming, we went back and picked him up.  We shushed and calmed him for about a minute and then put him back down and left again.  This time he went to sleep after we left.  Whew- we haven't had a bedtime like that since he learned to put himself to sleep.  We really really really hope these teeth come in soon.