Hey, God, thanks for that 2x4

I've known for nearly three years that Jon would be getting braces for a tooth that hasn't come down. He's supposed to get them put on next Tuesday.

Honestly, we deal with emotional fallout from so many unusual things, we often find it best to be matter-of-fact about all that we can. Braces turned out to be one of those things. We briefly discussed it during our last appointment, and then moved on to something else. I'm such a lousy mom. Thanksgiving night we were playing Apples to Apples, and he played his "braces" card for the word "awful". He mentioned that on the card, it says he can't eat corn on the cob, which is one of his favorite foods. (I didn't know that, either... it seems to me they're ALL his favorite.) DUH, ya think he might actually have thoughts and feelings on the subject of braces? Unfortunately, in his communication with me these past few weeks, those thoughts and feelings took a back burner to his hatred of me and the rules of this house and how I discipline his sister unfairly and why I should stop feeding him and why the heck do I keep him around, anyway, besides the fact that I love him? I did well to remain calm and continue loving him and feeding him and disciplining his sister, not once stopping to discuss braces.

Today, it finally hit me that I should maybe look into what he can and can't eat, hygiene issues, etc.

Now I feel sorry for the little guy. Some of his stocking stuffers will need to change. And I'm guessing he's going to be pretty sore for a while, and may not be up for the big day of shopping and errands we have planned for Tuesday.

I'm thankful that God hit me with this ahead of time, so I can at least be a little prepared. And maybe the last-minute sympathy is a good thing, too. I just hope it doesn't mean I'm as lousy a mom to him as I sometimes think I am.