Cha Cha Cha Changes

In retrospect, I may have been a little dramatic when I said that the events that were on the schedule for today would be life changing.  There has definitely been an alteration of sorts, but it probably won’t be nearly as monumental to you readers, as it has been to the members of our household – one little girl in particular.

Mattie took a pacifier until she was about two and a halfish.  We were very laid back about her “sosa” usage.  It made her happy, it made us happy and we had the promise of a trusted dentist friend that as long as it was gone by the time she was 3, there shouldn’t be any problems.  We used to joke about how we knew that braces would be in our future. College we were uncertain about, but definitely braces.  Her baby teeth were precious and perfect, these tiny little pearls all right were they were supposed to be.  For a few years, a few very naive years, I thought that maybe we had dodged a bullet.  Maybe our child was never going to go through any awkward stages and her precious little chompers were as straight as little mouth soldiers.  My teeth hadn’t been terrible, though I did have braces, and Brandon never had them at all.  We were starting to feel just a little bit cocky.

I don’t know the exact date, but I do know that I have it written down somewhere because with my first child I kept track of these kinds of things – but it was probably around 2011 that she lost her first front tooth.  I was sad to see it go, but that gappy grin she was sporting was pretty darling.  No worries, we were breezing through adolescence.  And then the Captain Permanente moved in………sideways.  And all her other permanent teeth seem to have followed in the same chaotic manner.  The older she has grown, things have straightened out quite a bit.  Her growing face giving those teeth a little more room to spread out, but still – I would be lying if I said I had never once told my girl child, “Maybe for this picture Mattie Belle, just smile with your eyes.”

She has been looking forward to getting braces.  I have REALLY been looking forward to the braces and today was the day!  But in typical Kaylee fashion, when it came time to actually send her back for her mouth of metal, I had a little tug at my heart.  It is not a pretty little smile that has graced my girl’s face for about the past 4 years, but it is her smile.  Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder in this situation, but love is also blind.  I made her come back and smile for me one last time, knowing that I won’t ever see that exact little face again.  And of course, because I am who I am and can make a perfectly normal situation into a sappy mess, my started to fill up a little and for just a second I couldn’t breath very well.  I do not adjust to change well.  Even when its not only a change that I have been anxiously awaiting for YEARS, but also willing to shell out a ridiculous amount of money to accomplish said change.

And with one last hug and one last picture – Queen Schnaggle Tooth made her exit.  She will probably be glad to get rid of that little nickname, too.

She was so proud afterwards, and has carried her little plastic bag with her special tooth brush, “christmas tree brush” and wax with her everywhere.  She is taking her teeth augmentation very seriously….at least for today.  I just peeked in on her and her little plastic box of wax is resting right on the edge of her desk, perfectly placed should she need it in the night.

So life changing, probably not for you, but definitely for Matilda Belle…….and her mama.  I loved that toothless little mouth and felt a little robbed when that first bit of enamel started to peek through.  It was a clear sign that she was definitely growing and changing and needed me a little less.  She wasn’t exactly tearing through meat or anything with that first little tooth, but still……And then when she started losing them, those sweet little baby teeth that we had all struggled to cut……Sure it was her little mouth, but anyone who has lived with a teething child knows that it is a group activity, affecting everyone.  My babies tend to fall apart when getting new teeth. Playing Tooth Fairy has always been a bittersweet parenting task for me.  And now these braces…….I’m trying to just have fun with the moment, to get caught up in her excitement about all the fun color possibilities and how she gets to brush with a miniature bottle brush.  But the reality is, they don’t put braces on a mouth full of baby teeth that are just going to fall out anyway.  These braces are on permanent teeth, in the mouth of a girl who isn’t a baby anymore – and for that to really soak in, I just need a minute or two.  I suppose I will be writing a similar post when she gets these braces taken off, lamenting how straight teeth only belong to the mature and how my child can in no way be ready to leave this phase behind her.

We walked quietly back to the car, me with my mind all over the place thinking ridiculous thoughts about her moving away and replaying the day I gave her the first of many sink baths….and her, she could barely walk in a straight line because she was too busy trying to touch her teeth with her hands and tongue.  I took her to get a smoothie and french fries for lunch and then we headed back to school.  For an hour now, I was struggling with just what was going on today.  I really wanted to be happy and excited and also, really…..braces aren’t exactly a life or death situation.  This is not a big deal! She’s not moving out or anything.  And then we pulled into the school parking lot.

She was taking a bit to get out of the car, in typical Mattie fashion so I got out the hustle her along.  She was just sitting on the floor of the car when I arrived on her side, and before I had a chance to ask her what in the world she was doing she quickly asked me if I could pull her lose tooth.  She was too scared to do it because it was a molar (and probably because she has never pulled any of her others).  She was sitting on the floor of the car because she didn’t want to get out and to risk anyone seeing her should she start to cry.  And in that quick second, as I pulled my girlie’s first molar in the parking lot of her elementary school, I realized that she was still very much a little girl.  I also realized that even if she wasn’t a “little girl” anymore, she was still going to need me to hunch down in the back seat and help her out with tons of problems for the rest of her life. I’m pretty certain my mom and I found ourselves in a similar position only a few weeks ago, and I have had all my grown up teeth for quite some time now, braces off for 20+ years and even have my wisdom teeth out.

So big day for us!  And tomorrow? Tomorrow Lila tries out a tap class.  Stay tuned and have a wonderful week!

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