By Nicole
After three years, two months and 12 days, my eldest is—finally—out of braces. He’s done his time…expander, headgear, top and bottom braces and two rounds of elastics, but his teeth are now absolutely perfect! And it was all worth it. The poor kid inherited every last one of my orthodontic problems, so what could I do? I hauled him to the endless appointments (I lost count at 25) and forked over enough cash to pay for a grand tour of Europe. (Bon voyage, Doc!)
I also nagged him, month in and month out, to brush and floss. Happily for him, he also inherited my strong enamel, and skated through without a single cavity.
As any mom of a kid in braces will tell you, we wage constant war on sticky foods. As I’ve said before this guy is already a picky eater, so his choices were pretty limited. Lucky for both of us, he never had to give up one of his favorite snacks: popcorn. Over the years, he’s happily munched it by the bowl…sometimes seasoned with his favorite romano cheese, other times tossed in butter or just straight up plain and yummy. It’s been one of his favorite go-tos that didn’t damage all the hardware or deposit sugar in those hard to reach places. Plus, popcorn is a whole grain food with fiber, which makes it a healthful snack choice for a growing kid. (more…)