Another Brace Face

Alex joined the ranks of the brace faces today!  Hahaha.   Like Sophie, he's going to do a 2 phase treatment.  And while I'm not quite sure why Sophie's needed to be split into 2 phases, I totally understand why Alex needs to start this early.  {Essentially, he doesn't have enough space for all his permanent molars to come in.  Right now -- on each side of his mouth -- there are only 1 1/2 spaces for 3 teeth to fit in.  So he now has brackets on his 6 front teeth on top and an expander to hopefully expand his palette and make some space.}

Way back at the beginning of December, I took him in for his initial scans.  The technology these days is kind of amazing and it was cool to see them creating a 3-D model with essentially a toothbrush sized wand taking pictures of every facet of his teeth.  We had to put things on pause while the Christmas/New Year's holidays were taking center stage, but last week we went back in for rubber band "spacers" to be put on his back molars (for the expander to fit in more comfortably when they're taken out) and today was the day for the whole shebang!  

(This is the only "Before" picture he would let me take.)

The process from start to finish wasn't too long and in the end, I'm pretty sure Alex was kind of excited about this new phase of life.  ;)  Other than his teeth being a little sore, I don't think I've heard a single complaint!  Now that we've got orthodontia to deal with, however, I'm going to be hounding him much more than usual about making sure he gets his teeth good and brushed everyday and I'm sure that will bring LOTS of complaints my way.  Hahahaha.  He'll be in these braces for about a year and then I think they'll wait until all his baby teeth are gone before starting phase 2.   {And speaking of phase 2 -- Sophie just started hers last week.  I didn't get any pictures, but I'm sure she'll love to pose for me one of these days.  Hahahaha.}

And that's a wrap, folks!  Nothing else super exciting is going on over here, other than the fact the weather has been delightfully in the 50s and 60s for the past few days.  The only downside to that, though, is I'm pretty sure all the bulbs I planted in the fall are thinking it's springtime already and are starting to poke their little heads out.  Hopefully they won't be ruined before the REAL spring is here.  :)

(Unrelated to braces, but Alex REALLY wanted me to take some pictures of his LEGO building skills.)

(He really wanted to take a picture of the finished product to show his cousin, Henry.)