It's pretty much a bummer. Her mouth hurts, she can't eat anything that isn't solid, she has a palette expander on the roof of her mouth that food keeps getting stuck in, and she has lispy speech. The orthodontist heaped praise on her for being such a trooper during the procedure. The dental assistant heaped praise on her for being such a trooper during the procedure. I heaped praise on her for being such a trooper during the procedure. I gave her extra hugs, arm strokings, and squeezes just to support her in a tough time. Friends and aunties made a big deal about how cool her braces look.
Somebody is very jealous.
MADELEINE: (on the way to the orthodontist) Julia? You're gonna look WEIRD in braces.
MADELEINE: (upon leaving the orthodontist's office) Mommy? Is Julia going to get ALL the attention now that she has braces?
MADELEINE: (during the car ride home from the orthodontist) Julia? You sound really WEIRD when you talk. You sound like a DUCK. (lower lip drooping) I don't LIKE the way you sound when you talk now. I miss the OLD Julia's voice.
MADELEINE: (also during the car ride home from the orthodontist) Mommy? You said Julia would look cute in braces, but she doesn't. She looks WEIRD.
MADELEINE: (today, after Julia struggled to eat her breakfast and was in mouth pain, causing me to give her Advil) Mommy? Why is Julia getting ALL the attention?
MADELEINE: (after Julia beat her at Wii tennis) ARGH! Julia!! You ALWAYS get EVERYTHING! (throwing the Wii remote and causing the backing to come off and the batteries to spill all over.)
MADELEINE: (on the way to swim team today) Mommy? How come EVERYBODY has braces that we know?
ME: Almost nobody has braces that we know.
I reminded Madeleine that she is usually the one being fawned over and doted upon, as she is little and pretty stinkin' cute, so it's kind of only fair for Julia to get our attention when she's going through the first few days of braces. But since Madeleine is still jealous, I can at least promise her that she'll have her own day in the sun. I'm pretty sure she'll be needing braces down the line, and she gets all that drooly, spitty, achy-mouthed, speech impedimenty fun in her own future!
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