Prongs

My poor Dylie.  He got braces last week, and I think he has buyer's remorse. :)  I keep telling him over and over again that it will be worth it.  But I well remember the pain.  I've been down that road three times, dude.  Three times.

In a lot of ways, orthodontia reminds me a lot of torture.  I vividly remember my ortho kneeling on his chair beside my reclining chair and yanking on teeth and wire with his whole body.  Kind of PTSD-inducing.  Plus the headgears, the spacers, the errant wires that poke your cheeks...  Having to brush with that little skinny brush after lunch every day - standing in the girls' bathroom and brushing the leftover sandwich pieces from between each brace...

That first day, he was so miserable.  After he got his braces on, he begged to go home for the rest of the day.  I told him I'd get him a Jamba Juice if he'd go back to school.  He reluctantly agreed with that plan.  Plus I had given him some ibuprofen to help with the soreness.

Apparently, Dylan is a tongue-thruster.  He's never had a lisp, but the doc says that he has been pushing his tongue into the back of his teeth to swallow, instead of the top of his mouth.  So the doc put these horrible-looking prongs behind his teeth:

Ouch, amiright?  This will train his tongue to swallow correctly.  Poor kid.

This morning, exactly one week after the braces were put on, I decided it was time to teach the kiddo the ways of flossing with braces.  He caught on really quickly.  He was surprised to see that I, too, have flossers.

"What do you need those for?"

"I've got permanent retainers behind my teeth, hon."

After I showed them to him, he was like, "Am I going to have to have those??"

"Most likely."

"Aw, maaaaannnnn..."

So we flossed together.  I plan on making it our morning ritual.  It will make me floss more often and keep his teeth healthy during this braces process.

We decided not to do the paper route thing.  And I'm sooooo glad.  I was really, really not looking forward to that.  My parents said he could work for them doing various things to earn money, and he's been really vigilant about earning those braces.

And he's so cute.  He cuts up everything into little bites, "so that he doesn't ruin his braces."  He's been staying away from sugar, too, and brushing really well.  I cut up some apples for him last night, and he's like, "Um, can I eat these?"

"Yes, babe.  You just can't bite into a whole apple."

"Oh."

I love this age.  He and I are in a really good place.  We're buddies, and I love it.