Karlee's Braces

Karlee's "before" braces smile

Karlee got braces on her two front teeth on July 13th. They are just starting on the front to bring them together so they can make room for the other teeth. She has a cross/under bite that she inherited from her dad. She asked if they were going to fix that. I told her that I hope so. She said she didn't want them to fix it, because she got it from her dad. She was asking for two weeks before when she would get her braces on. She has been a real trouper. She hasn't complained at all and is being vigilant about what kinds of food she can't eat since they might break her braces.

I have to say Karlee is a joy to have in our home. She is always cheerful. Whenever we ask her to do something she just jumps up and says, "Okay!" Even when it is chores. It is kind of hard to get used to. One day I said to Layne, "Why does she have to be so damn agreeable!" It makes it hard for me to be grumpy when she is so quick to obey. Now Tanner might disagree, because she isn't always so ready to jump when he asks her to do something. But that is my fault because I always tell him to do it himself, and she has picked up on that.

In fact she has quite frighteningly become a "mini-me." I have a tendency to growl a lot. And she has learned how to do it quite well also. And I am having a lot of my sayings coming back at me. One of my most frequent is, "Be a man, not a mouse", when the kids have something hard to do. Karlee is always proud to let me know she was a man, not a mouse when she has done something hard.

Whenever the kids ask me where their, shirt, shoes, bike etc is, I tell them, "The last time I wore or used it I put it right back where I find it. Meaning, how in the heck should I know what you did with it? Well a week or so ago, I grabbed a video to put in the mail box. When it came time to drop it in the box I couldn't find it. I asked Karlee, "Where is the video?" She said, "Well, the last time I used it I put it right back where I found it." Ouch!!

I also like to tell the kids that they have a "hard knock life" when they have something to complain about. I realized that "Annie" was before Karlee's time. So we rented it so she could appreciate my scolding a little better. Now she is quick to inform the boys that they have a "hard knock life" whenever they complain.