Brace Face

My daughter is officially a "brace face."  She had the shiny silver bands placed on her teeth today.  She was pretty nervous about getting those things on.

"Mama," she said.  "My friends tell me it's going to hurt for the rest of my life."

"The rest of your life?" I said.  "Nah.  Only about a year or so."

"But my friends say it's worse than getting spacers."

"Listen," I said.  "I had braces, and I don't recall braces being worse than spacers.  You'll have some discomfort, but it'll go away.  I'll give you some Motrin when we get home."

So she went into the office and sat in the chair.  The orthodontist clamped her mouth open and went to work.  Two hours latter she was sporting a silver smile.

"Look, Mama!"

"Pretty cool," I said.  "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

At first she didn't answer.  "Well, they feel funny."

"Yeah," I said.  "It's always funny having metal stuck in your mouth."

We left the office and drove back to school.  On the way, my daughter inspected her new grin.  "Um, Mama," she said.  "There's a piece of my hair stuck under a band."

"Pull it out,"

She did.  "Owwwww!" she hollared.

Uh oh.   I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back!