Round Two Begins

We started to take Sophie into the Orthodontist when she was about 7 years old. She shortly got an extender that we had to crank each day to push her top jaw out to make it wider. She got braces shortly after and had them for almost 2 years as they prepared her mouth for the bone graft surgery she would need. She had a retainer for about 6 months while we waited for her surgery date. Once she had surgery the retainer no longer fit her mouth and the Maxillofacial surgeon didn't want anything to interfere with her bone graft. That was almost two years ago. 

Sophie hasn't had any orthodontics since that time because the Orthodontist has been waiting for her 12 year molars to come in. Lucky for us they came in before she turned 12.  A few weeks ago, at an appointment with her whole cranial facial team they (the Maxillofacial surgeon, plastic surgeon, and Orthodontist) decided it was time to start round two finally. Over the past two years her beautiful, straight (and expensive) teeth had reverted a bit to their original crocked state. 

Today she got braces again. This time she has brackets on the top and the bottom. 

She is going to have to have an extender put in next week to also help the process along. Wow! does that sound like a lot of metal in one little mouth. We are really hoping to correct her teeth and jaw with orthodontics rather than have to have jaw surgery again.

She has been very positive about the whole experience. She wants to see her teeth straightened. However, she certainly didn't like the spacers (little rubber band like things they placed between some of her teeth) which were placed last week. She took a bit of Tylenol to sleep at night and sampled a lot of popsicles to keep the pain at bay during the day.  I have a feeling I need to stock up on those two things while she goes through this process again. I can see this round is going to be a little more extensive than the first round.

New developments in the Hair Battle

When Sophie was a little girl she used to let me put her cute little curly locks in pony tails, but only if I parked her in front of a Thomas the Tank Engine video while I combed it. As she got older even the electronic distraction no longer worked and eventually I gave up on getting her hair to look like someone took care of her. She usually has it cut short now, because when it gets long she doesn't take care of it. Her hair gets tangled and looked messy all the time. So for now she has it short. And she looks very cute with her chin length bob.

For her birthday this year I gave her an American Girl Hair care kit. It teaches her how to do different hair styles on her American Girl doll. She has told me it is her favorite gift. She certainly has spent a good amount of time using the new wig brush and hair accessories that came in the kit. She is learning how to braid and do different twists.

She is getting pretty good at some of the hair styles and really enjoys making her doll look beautiful.

I hope some of this hair care will roll over into her taking a little more care of her own hair. So far it hasn't. She just doesn't care if her hair is hanging in her face or that it doesn't look like she even ran a brush through it before going out. For now I just have to be content with the new found fun she is having and the skills she is developing. 

I just don't want to fight about hair anymore.

Girls and Free Time

Sophie was in distress this afternoon when she couldn't find her How to Draw Animals book. She had gotten it off the shelf and couldn't remember where she had left it. This book along with her sketch book are often busy together.  When she doesn't have anything pressing to do this is usually what she chooses to do with her spare time.

Today, after she found the book, she spent a good amount of time laying on the floor drawing and drawing while I was reading my book, Molly napped, and the boys played outside. She goes outside to play a lot but evidently today she had something in mind that she wanted to do and luckily the other kids were out of the way so she could accomplish it.

Henry got a new Webkinz pet for his Birthday.  When I saw it I thought it was a duck bill platypus but Sophie said it was called a google and was a duck of some kind. So today she dug out her animal encyclopedia (She keeps it by her bed for a little late night reading) and looked up platypus. She went to work drawing, labeling and writing about a platypus in her sketchbook.

When she was finished she spent a lot of time telling me all about what she learned. I knew they were mammals but laid eggs. She told me all about these very different mammals.

I love it when she learns new things just because she loves learning and not just because I tell her to do it. This was completely unprompted and at her whim.  Her drawings are getting really good too.

This is what Molly does with her time.

She loves to play with my pots, pans, and bowls that are in one of the lower cabinets. I feel like I am always putting my bowls back where they belong. She has been exploring other cabinets lately to see what fun things they hold. This was a particularly good day because I was distracted making bread.  She got her hands into the forbidden cabinet where the flour, sugar and other baking supplies call home. Good thing the flour bucket was almost empty or else I would have had a much bigger mess to deal with.

Something is Different.... What can it be?

Not Covered

Today we have officially started Sophie's Orthodontics. This was something we knew we would be dealing with the day she was born. And earlier this year our Cranial Facial Doctor told us that Sophie had finally lost enough teeth and was at an age to move ahead with the next surgery. But before the surgery could be performed she would need the orthodontics to move her teeth to make room for the bone graft that would be put in her gums. I know it sounds horrible and I cringe to think about what this means for my little girl. The idea of her having to go through this surgery and especially the bone grafting just makes me.... I don't know a bit scared for her and worried about the pain that it will cause.

We saw the orthodontist who is experienced with cleft pallet corrections for a consult a few months ago. Sophie had some very extensive x-rays taken of her teeth, jaws and whole head about a month ago. But today the real work began. Sophie had to go in and get spacers put in to prepare her teeth for the "appliance" as the Orthodontist called it. She also made molds of her teeth so they can make the extender to fit her mouth. We get to go in again next week for more spacers and such and then finally in two weeks she will have the extender put in place.

What is killing me is that this orthodontics procedure is necessary before her surgery (which is fully covered by our Health coverage) but health insurance doesn't cover the orthodontics. And dental doesn't cover the orthodontics either because it isn't really braces, it is a special procedure. So we end up picking up the entire bill for this one. And we have already been told this is only phase 1 of 3. It was somewhat breath taking to see what the estimate was for only this phase. I signed that contract and gave them the down payment but it is daunting to think how expensive this is going to be. I should be more grateful for the Health coverage we have which so far has completely covered all her surgeries (four so far) and doctor visits (which have been too many to count). We are really blessed to have the plan that we do. Thank goodness my husband has a stable job that provides this coverage with little out of our pocket.

It has never even been a question that we would do these orthodontics for Sophie. We were warned the first time we even saw the plastic surgeon, when Soph was only 1 month old, that the orthodontics wouldn't be covered. It is something we have always known was in the future. It has just always been something "in the future" and now we find it on us now. She will have a beautiful smile at the end of these years of extenders, braces and a few surgeries. That will be worth every penny!

For now she is already complaining about the pain the spacers are causing but is being so good about everything. The orthodontist's assistant said she was very cooperative and nice today.

Sophie is a trooper.

Sophie's Heart's Desire.

For the past year or more Sophie has been very excited about the American Girls. We read Kaya last spring and have been making our way through the different series' of books. We have recieved the American Girl catalog in the mail every few weeks and each time it comes Sophie has poured over it for hours. She could tell you all about each of the dolls and what each one comes with. We have always discussed how expensive these dolls are and tried not to get her hopes up. She did get one of the mini dolls for Christmas but she just had her heart set on a big one.
Sophie has never been a doll player. She never had baby dolls that she fed and took care of even though both Grandmas would have tried. She has always preferred animals. She has an endless assortment of animals and she has taken care of them like little children. She wanted an Alice in Wonderland doll a few years ago when she saw one in the store. Grandma made sure Alice came to our house that Christmas. Alice hasn't gotten a lot of play time. Mostly she just sits on the shelf. So I was not overly excited about getting Sophie an expensive doll that she wouldn't even play with. But Sophie has persisted in this desire and talked and wished about the day she would get a doll of her own. She even picked out the one she wanted. She told me she would like a "Just like me doll" which means she wanted one that had brown hair and brown eyes like her.


After looking for a number of months on Ebay for a used doll. I bid on one not expecting to actually win it. But I did. The doll came and has sat in my closet for a few weeks. I thought she would be a great birthday gift for Soph but that is so many months away. My husband thought we should give it to her now since she is so excited about the dolls right now. Who knows what she will be when the birthday rolls around. So we settled on giving it to her for Valentines day. We don't usually give gifts like this for Valentines but this was special.

I told my, doll loving, mother about the American Girl Doll a number of weeks ago when I won the auction. She was excited that Sophie was showing interest in dolls and decided to make a few extra outfits for this American Girl. They arrived this week and Sophie was excited to try them on her new doll this morning.

Sophie didn't wait long to introduce her little Kaya doll to her "big" American Girl doll. I thought the little ones were all we were ever going to get for her but I guess luck changed that.
I know she is happy and excited about it.

When Sophie opened the box this morning she said "My first big American Girls doll". I hate to tell her it will most likely be her only American Girl doll.

Sophie loves Ballet

Saturday we went to Sophie's first recital. I am very glad that the teacher keeps things pretty simple and low key. The girls all just had to wear a black leotard and tights. The teacher provided each of the girls with a tutu and flowers for their hair. They felt like ballerinas without having fancy expensive outfits.Sophie's class did both a tap dance as well as their ballet routine. Look at Sophie in this picture.

She looks so perfectly posed in first position. While watching her dance I could tell she was working really hard trying to get her feet to do the things she sees her teacher do. She was excellent at the acting part of the dances. She could ham it up quite well.
She is going to be taking a break from Ballet for the summer. She will be doing swim lessons for a few weeks but she really wants to continue with ballet in the fall. She loves it!

Math is always easier in Butterfly Wings

More Borrowers!

Yesterday I found a book called Sea Star by Marguerite Henry which is a sequal to the Misty books we had read earlier this year. Sophie was all excited about it when I showed it to her yesterday at the library. Last night I finished the book I was reading to her at bedtime, The Borrowers Afield. When I left her room I asked her if she wanted to read the Sea Star book next. She said "Oh no.... we have to read more Borrowers. I guess it is a good thing we also have The Borrowers Afloat sitting on the shelf waiting to be read as well. It is wonderful to have such a dilemma.

Sophie's Blog

Sophie has had a blog for a few months now. She decided to name it The Bean Stalk. She isn't very regular about posting. Mostly she likes to talk about what she dreamt about that night or something like that. She dreams about the Cheshire cat a lot. But she checks it once in awhile to see if anyone has commented on her posts. We have kept her blog private but if any of her friends or family would like to comment on some of her posts, email me and I will send you an invitation to view her blog.
She would be thrilled!

Top Ten Tuesday - September 11 - 10 pictures of Sophie

Many people think of September 11th and remember the events that happened in New York and DC. In our family we mark this date for a little different reason. 6 years ago, before I even knew what was happening in the world I was aware of the labor pains that had started that morning. When a neighbor ran over to our apartment and told us to turn on the news I was watching the clock timing contractions. My husband called work and told them he wouldn't be in that day and we spent the morning alternating between walking around the block and sitting in front of the T.V. watching the news unfold. Then about 3:00 that afternoon we finally went to the hospital and Sophie was born a few hours later.
Our shocks weren't over there. When Sophie first came out the medical student who was "catching" fainted and then the doctor took over and quickly wisked the baby away. I had no idea what was wrong for a few moments.

Here is Sophie's first picture taken a few moments after her birth. You can see the large gap in her lip. After looking at all the information I was handed about Cleft lip/pallet I thought she looked pretty good. Later the plastic surgeon told me that her cleft was about a 9 on a 1-10 scale.

Here was our little family in August 2002

This picture was taken September 11th 2002 on her 1st birthday. This was only about 2 weeks after her third and most difficult pallet surgery. She had surgery on her lip when she was 3 months old.

I just loved this picture of Sophie as she explored some rose gardens.

September 11, 2003. Sophie's 2nd birthday. She was all excited about Thomas the Tank Engine and Blues Clues.

Ian was born when Sophie was about 2 1/2. This is when he was only a few weeks old. Sophie has always loved her little brother.

Sophie has always loved to have her picture taken.

Sophie is full of energy. We have other people comment on her exuberance. She just has such a busy mind that she can't sit still for long.

Sophie has always had a love of books. When she was small she would sit for book after book after book. This is amazing since some people think she is ADHD. We know she doesn't, because she can focus when she wants to. We often found her in her bed surrounded by books or sitting in front of her bookcase with a bunch of books around her. She taught herself to read. Other than reading A LOT to her I can't claim to have taught her this skill.

Here is a picture of the three kids shortly after Henry joined the family. They loved to take turns holding baby Henry

Sophie loves animals. This is Grandma and Grandpa's cat Minton. Sophie was visiting when Minton had to go to the vet so Sophie was thrilled to go along. Sophie says she wants to be a marine specialist.

Opps... that is 11 pictures. Oh well.

I hope your September 11 is good too.