Orthodontist evaluation

So, we made it out alive.  Although you would have thought we might not, the way the boys crept slowly in after peering into the doorway.  The office and staff put them at ease and pretty soon the doctor was in with her (highly intelligent) secretary to look at their sweet little faces from many different angles.  She asked them to make crazy faces and mouth movements.  I'm pretty sure half of them were for my amusement.  The whole time she was doing this, she was speaking another language to the secretary who was dutifully typing and clicking away.  I don't mean her secretary didn't speak English.  I mean that the lingo to describe what she was seeing was a completely different language.  It all made for a opportunity to practice not giggling and acting like a concerned mother.  I can never get enough practice at that.

So the verdict is that Cody needs to have four teeth pulled.  To understand the gravity of this statement, you should probably pretend I just reported that Cody needs to have his jaw broken and only eat through a straw for the next six months.  Because that's what Cody looked like he heard.  Jackson needs just one pulled and then she will put four braces across the front to pull them in line and let the others have some space to fill out his somewhat elusive smile.  Well, it's elusive to cameras anyway, and strangers, and especially doctors.  And an expander on his two back teeth to move the bones apart to make more room.  But supposedly this is not supposed to hurt.  Anyway, that will take probably the rest of the year.  Good times.  Childhood mems.

On the way home we had a conversation about why, exactly, do we need braces, Mom?  I tiptoed around the reason that it has to do a lot with appearance, and tried to put the emphasis on health and longevity.  And they I lightly added that, believe it or not, when they are in high school, the girls all want the boys to think they're pretty and the boys all want the girls to think they're handsome.  To which Jackson yelled from the back, "No, not handsome, boys want to be AWESOME".  I hope he continues to feel that way.  But in most people's book, crooked teeth are not awesome.  I didn't say that last part to him though, because I was too busy laughing hysterically.