Braces For Two

Before

I now have 2 children walking around with a significant portion of my life savings in their mouths. Yes, sir, I have 2 in braces.

Not only that, but while Blondie was getting her braces on, Boy Teenager was in the next room getting fitted for his. Oh boy. And Ginger Girl will also be getting them in the not-distant-enough future. Boy oh boy.

I think I set a poor precedent when my kids were younger.

Somehow, without any darn forethought, I got these kids used to having things that cost money: sports, an education, music lessons & instruments, health care. Clothing that fits & looks decent. Food that tastes good & is nourishing. Proper dental care.

After

With all these children expecting these outlandish things, I really should have given it more thought before raising the bar so high.

Now I've got 4 kids who just expect that since the dentist, who conveniently enough is also an orthodontist convenient for us 'cause we know him & he knows the kids' history, convenient for him 'cause he makes 100x the $$ without getting more patients to come in says they need braces in order to do frivolous things like, you know, eat properly & have teeth into the ripe ol' age of their twenties, that I'll just get right on that for them, not even giving a second thought to whether I wanted to or not.

Sigh. I got right on that for them.

Blondie walked into the dentist office that day all excited, "I'm getting my braces!" The receptionist said she'd never seen someone so happy to get braces. Everyone laughed when I said, "I know. She's so weird." He's been my dentist since I was 19 & the receptionist & 1 of his hygienists are the same people he had all those years ago. As well as they know my kids, having watched them grow up over the past 14 years, I'm pretty free to talk about my kids that way with them.

So goofy

Blondie was in a ton of pain the first 4 days. I felt so bad for her. I remember what that pain is like from my braces & it's hard to watch my girls go through it. On Day 2 already, Blondie was able to physically see that the pain is all worth it. Even though we know the teeth are moving each day, we were shocked that it was such a noticeable change in just 24 hours. I thought it would be a few days before I would be able to take a picture of her teeth having moved. Nope. She has super teeth.

It's not because of a super orthodontist, because I know it's her super teeth that decided to move so soon, all on their own.

I knew I'd given her my tiny, crowded mouth & all sorts of hot mess for teeth I blame Amazing Grace's teeth on their father, since her mouth looked just like his & I can't take on all the blame for everything, but had no idea I'd given her super teeth. She is my little clone, so it makes sense, considering I have super powers.

Day 2

While I don't have super teeth...heck, my braces took 6 years to finish their job, no super teeth here...I am a Queen. Being a Queen is a super power that I take very seriously.

And it's fun to say, "Off with their heads!!"