Braces!

So yesterday was the big day. Asher started his journey with braces. :) Most of the day (and the week leading up to it) he was pretty miffed about the whole thing and walked around with a scowl and muttering to himself, having entire conversations with some pretend orthodontist about why he didn't really need braces. (You'd think maybe I'm making that up, but you'd be wrong, lol.)

But. Fortunately, he's still cooperative and let me take this "before" picture in the morning:

His appointment was in the afternoon, and the orthodontist and her staff were lovely...putting him at ease and explaining what would happen and just generally being efficient and kind. This is him as they were gathering a few last things to get started...

And then they were done. It was actually quicker than anticipated and went off without a hitch. Turns out, too, that they're going to ease him into things. They started just with the top, front braces. In January, we'll add the top, back braces. And then a month or so after that we'll finish things off with all the bottom braces. Ta da. :) 

Whew. :) Asher's in a much better mood now, actually. I think the apprehension and the unknown were the worst of it. So far there's not been too much pain. He says it just feels weird. I've explained that he should let me know when there's pain...that I don't dole out medicine for "weird." ;) (I fully anticipate that there will be more pain this afternoon, as that's what the orthodontist told me, but I'll take the happy smile this morning.)

(For what it's worth, Asher's pretty fortunate in that the list of "don'ts" doesn't really apply to him, as he already doesn't eat many of the things on the list and has always been a very careful eater--taking small bites and such. Really the only thing he'll be missing out on will be certain candies. Micah, on the other hand, has been looking at the list in anticipation of his own braces journey and is not very happy, lol...)