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...
