I was a homely kid. Oh I know, I know, you don't believe me ...the gorgeousness that is me, there is no bloody way, right? (all of this coming to you tongue-in-cheek in a MOST sarcastic tone...).
It wasn't so bad here:
But to go from there, to the following in a couple of short years???
Glasses? Check.
Bad hair cut? Check.
Acne at 9 years of age? Check.
No bra required? Check (well, still checking as we speak).
Braces? Well of course -- Check.
Scrawny, skinny, shy ... Checkmate.
Brace yourself:
(don't know why I'm smiling so much in this shot, maybe the braces were coming off soon? It could NOT have been because I was loving my peasant outfit or how my hair flipped just so, maybe I was just in a fog because I couldn't see without my glasses on...)
I thank my lucky stars all the time that my grandparents emigrated to Canada and that my father had good health and dental insurance plans for us while growing up. Because if I were still in China, I would be a lonely old maid right now. Absolutely no doubt about that.
And kids, we all know how cruel they can be.
Fortunately, our boy seems to have taken after his father and appears to be fairly popular, at least at this stage of his childhood. His Dad was the kid with the long hair and tight painter-pants, who knew all the cool music, but would still chat with you on the schoolbus even if you wore homemade clothes (a quote from an old friend of his who likes to tease him...).
Not that being popular is the be all and end all, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
The one thing our boy also inherited, unfortunately for him, are his parents' sets of large chompers. Very large teeth, in a small jaw, means major overcrowding, and nowhere for the adult teeth to go. He's got a cross-bite and over-bite ... two for the price of one. As we both needed orthodontic work, we knew braces were in the future for him (and likely his sister) but I wasn't expecting it to come so soon. He's not even 9 years old.
I brought him to the dentist today for the extraction of his two baby eye teeth. Oooff. Those roots were big. But he did so well, the laughing gas didn't hurt, and he was such a trooper. I was so proud of him. These days they do things preventatively, before the bones harden. So rather than waiting until he's older, like when I was a teen, they're trying to shape things going forward.
He's taking it easy now, after playing Wii fit for about 20 minutes (you CAN'T keep an 8 year old down). And he's warned me, apparently the going rate for the tooth fairy for these mega eye teeth is $20 per tooth!!!!
Uh, I don't think so. Wishful thinking, little guy. The $9.99 Polar Bear Webkinz is gonna have to do, buddy!
For more flashbacks, check out my gal pal at Mommy Always Wins...
20 comments:
Oh Karen, you are too hard on yourself...really, you and I would have been the best of friends since we pretty much looked like twins!!!
Your boy? How brave! That just sounds painful. But how great that he got it over with now, it is likely less traumatic at 8 than at 13.
We have big teeth over here too, I see braces in our future too!
You were not homely! Seriously girl.. you were (and are) adorable.
Good luck with the braces for your boy. Delaney's braces are coming off in January. She has been wearing a variety of hardware since she was 8 because her baby teeth were so crowded they couldn't even fall out. The orthodontist has been able to make room for teeth to grow in rather than the yanking them around (and a few out) that her brothers had to endure.
I had hair just like yours in that second pic. And braces. And my kid got bad teeth to so I feel ya there too!
Oh I can relate. You did see that post I did about all my different crazy hairstyles, didn't you? Same thing. Braces, scrawny, bad hair, bad skin. Yikes. It was not pretty.
I'm hoping my boys inherit thier daddy's perfect teeth. :)
Check, check, check, check and check. Add that I was taller than most boys in my class until I got to high school. Geek squad all the way.
My daughter had to go through the teeth extractions too. Poor kid had seven teeth pulled for braces. She looked like a chipmunk. Thankfully once the hardware came off, she had a gorgeous smile. Good luck to your son.
You're too hard on yourself. You were, and are, adorable. I'm glad that the dentist wasn't too traumatic today - Sam hasn't even got all his baby teeth yet, but the ones he's got are twice the size of his sister's and already crowded. I'm saving for the orthodontist's bills now....
My aunt was a beautician and thought perming hair was cool... Trust me, poodle 'fro trumps braces any day. LOL. And, yay, for little man that he did so well at the dentist! Some children are absolutely traumatized.
Your picture is darling. And I'm one up on you...I had braces, glasses, bad haircut, AND corrective shoes. Yes, I win the total dork-o-meter.
Maya got her first set of braces when she was 7. You read that right. She's on her second set now, and she is leaning more and more towards needing full time glasses. At this point, she only needs them when she wants to see the board in school or something, but the early teen years are when their eyes change a lot, apparently, and hers are doing so.
Why couldn't she have gotten Ted's eyes and teeth? His teeth are PERFECT, and he didn't need glasses until college.
Sigh.
you are too hard on yourself, who doesn't kind of look akward in their teens :) You are beautiful.
wow our tooth fairy rates are like a quarter,,, we missed the inflation..
Karen--thanks so much for sharing those photos. You're makin' up for the awkward years (which we all had) big time now! You're a fashionista now!
I had a cross bite, over bite and open bite. So L-ster and I have something in common. Braces helped.
We were all unattractive as kids! Everyone has bad hair and crazy teeth! You are gorgeous!
Thing 1 had a bunch of teeth pulled as well. But I don't think it's gonna work.
But it sounds like he did great!
Didn't everyone go through the braces and glasses stage? I know I did (I rocked the John Denver frames).
Oh how I know what you're talking about with the teeth. You wouldn't believe how well I know our orthodontist--he's like a family member. 4 kids x 2 rounds of braces for each kid = 1 year at very nice private college for ortho's daughter on our dime.
Perhaps we may be related and not even know it! I can honestly say "ditto" on everything.
Although, I am incredibly jealous your hair flips :)
I'm sorry your boy had his teeth pulled. I had the same problem as a child with crowding. I eventually had to have 12 baby teeth pulled over time :(
You and I could have been best friends in high school and the boys just would not have known what they were missing out on. I was QUEEN of the freaking dorks in high school: greasy hair! acne! impossible skinniness!
Of course, now all of the girls I envied growing up look like they're 50 and me? I don't look too bad at all. Hahahah.
Your poor little guy and his teeth! But it's better now then later.
Sylvia pulled out two teeth last night. The tooth fairy needed more warning, because she only brought a buck!
Ohh! the teeth pulling!
You know, my friend's kids have all had teeth pulled and braces early on too. I guess that's the way they do it now. Early and then again LATER (oh I see J already wrote that)! I just had them in high school, you know when it doesn't help in the boy department. I signed a waiver to have them remove them right before Prom because I was NOT having any of that. I signed up for braces for 1 year, not the 2 it was turning into.
We're all so hard on ourselves aren't we? At least you had the sense to take off your glasses for the picture (yea,.. i didn't.... giant plastic frames, frizzy perm, braces, skinny, band geek.... HOT!). My self-esteem probably didn't get any help that my friends were big busted AND cheerleaders.
Aw, you were cute as a kid! We all had that "awkward stage" - I had to laugh out loud at the "still checking" for the bra thing - I feel ya!
And way to go little man! Hope he's feeling better now!
you're adorable!! and let me tell you...the styles back then did NOTHING to make us feel any better about ourselves.
in my house...out of the five kids...only one is going to escape braces!!
xo
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