Before, During and After

August had a big day today. Here's his before:
During:

And after!
He goes in again on Wednesday to get his retainer. Remember when we went in and got our retainers? There were no choices, you just got the one they gave you...I was surprised to see that now you can choose the color you'd like it to be. August picked red and black. They don't do a retainer for the bottom teeth, they just put that wire all the way around on the inside to keep the teeth in line.
Let's hope and pray that he doesn't step on his new appliance like I did...I don't think I told my folks and ended up having crooked teeth as an adult.

Weekend and Teeth

So last weekend Trey surprised us with a quick trip to The Great Wolf Lodge...I'd say that it was a great time for all of us:

August's plans were foiled when he read this notice outside of the giant indoor water park:
He was sooo hoping to both pee and poop in the pool!

I think the next time any family comes to town we should plan on staying at least one night at the lodge. The water park itself is worth the couple hour drive and the hotel is pretty cool too. I think it's pure genius to have this kind of thing near Seattle, the fact that it's a huge INDOOR water park means that our LONG wet winters can easily be broken up by a short trip here. I can't wait to go again.

In other exciting news...Hazel has lost her first tooth!! She had been wiggling it for weeks but it finally came out during school when she was playing with her head band in her mouth. Apparently she was shocked by the blood and began screaming in her classroom. Some of her friends were very alarmed and it became big news among the kindergartners. Hazel went to
the nurse to recover and to call me. She made it through the rest of the day just fine.
August has himself a mouth full of messed up teeth and went in to get braces on his lower set the other day. Here are his teeth before the braces...let's see how they change through out the year...I'm sure we'll all look back on this picture and be amazed...shoot, for what we're paying we dang well better be amazed!!

August

The Boy, not the month.
He's had so much going on these days:
He has been getting work done on his teeth for the past number of months. It all started with an expander on the roof of his mouth and has now progressed to braces on his bottom teeth. He was great during the appointment and I just couldn't help snap this picture of his mouth all stretched out. He went right to school once the braces were in place, taking his travel toothbrush and toothpaste with him. After school he did ask for some kids pain reliever while he worked on his homework.

Nowadays you can pick out the color of your rubber brands and so...August chose glow in the dark bands. We left the office with hopes that he could read in the dark by the light of his teeth. He was a bit disappointed when bed time came.
August has been getting ready for the Washington State standardized test for the 3rd grade. I hate these things. I was never a good test taker. August, as some of you know, takes quite a while to get things done, homework is always a struggle- he's missed recess because he can't get work done during class time. I worry about this for him. So we've been working on some test like items at home and I think he'll do just fine. His teacher said that it's not a timed test and that the students get as much time as they need. It starts on Monday and continues through the week.
During all this prep time I've noticed him retiring to his room for hours after school work. He hangs out there and then sneaks out of his room and asks for my iPhone to take pictures. This is what he's been working on:



I think the most impressive thing is that these aren't kits. He is just going in his room and building new Speeders. He's emailed pictures of some of these to his cousin Z and his best friend F and a boy from school with hopes that they'll all start building their own. He has this grand idea that they can all get together and make card for these Speeders with "fire power" and other things I can't remember because it sounds way too much like Pokemon and well, I just don't get all that. I'm just loving it. He said these words to me a few days ago, "I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'm having a better time building Speeders than I do playing video games!"
Hip-Hip!