As many of you know, our eight year old has braces (and an excess of personality). As it turns out, his orthodontist has come up with a clever way to encourage proper ‘orthodontic care’ on the part of his patients. If a patient makes it to their next appointment with out needing any repairs, then their name is entered in a drawing with a chance to win $50.00. While our little guy is pretty good about taking care of his tin grin, he wasn’t able to enter his name in the drawing during his last appointment due to an amusing mishap. [more]

Raising4Boys participated in three carnivals this week. Here they are, along with links to our posts that were included in each.

The Best of Me Symphony, which is up at The Owner’s Manual, included “Weaning and Worrying.” Also included was “How to Build a CD Ladder from fivecentnickel.com.

The Showcase Carnival, which is up at Pet’s Garden, included Braces for an Eight Year Old, Update.

The Carnival of the Vanities, which is up at Below the Beltway, included “An Excess of Personality.”

Given the number of kids that we have running around the house, mornings can get pretty crazy around here. And lunch-packing before the schoolbus arrives just adds to the craziness. In order to keep things running as smoothly as possible, we’ve had to come up with creative ways of streamlining our morning routine. Probably the simplest of these steps has to do with sandwich making. (Full Disclosure: While this tip works great when you do it, I’m actually pretty bad about sticking with it.) [more]

“The quickest way for a parent to get a child’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable.” — Lane Olinhouse

What’s a kid hack, you ask? Simple. It’s a clever (or at least we think it’s clever) parenting shortcut that’s designed to make your life easier. We’ve run across a few of these in our time as parents, and we’re continually discovering more. Thus, we thought that it might be worth creating a dedicated category for these little tidbits. If you have anything that you think might fit into this category, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, or drop us a line using the contact form. And keep an eye out for the first-ever kid hack — coming soon.

Our “big middle” son (6 years) can scream like you wouldn’t believe. If his brothers aggravate him or take something from him, he’ll let out a banshee yell so loud it makes your ears ring. I used to bristle every time I heard it, and race to discover what could have prompted such a response in one so young. Invariably, I’d find him in tears with fists at the ready, trying to avenge his honor. At times he’s been the hapless victim, but more often than not he’s suffering a reprisal from a victimized brother. Regardless, he’s usually the one who loses it and yells loud enough to peel the paint off our walls. [more]

Our oldest son (eight years) has always been a character. In fact, we often say that he has an “excess of personality” (a phrase used by John Hammond to describe Ian Malcolm in the movie Jurassic Park). His latest character quirk is the “Recap”. [more]

Raising4Boys was in two carnivals this week. Here they are along with links to our posts that were included in each…

The Showcase Carnival, which is up at Random Yak, included my post on the link between childhood antibiotic use and asthma.

The Best of Me Symphony, which is up at the Owner’s Manual, included “Braces for an Eight Year Old.” Also included was “The World’s Most Affordable Alarm System” from fivecentnickel.com.

What a difference six weeks makes! As we’ve noted previously, our eight year old son is receiving early orthodontic intervention to correct an underbite. When his braces first went on, the wire was crazy crooked, making his teeth look even worse than they really were. Not long after getting his braces on, he also got a ‘quad helix‘ for expansion of his upper arch. In case you’re not familiar with it, a quad helix is an orthodontic appliance that attaches to his upper second molars and pushes out on them. Anyway, I digress… We’ve been absolutely amazed at how fast his teeth have improved. Not only have they straightened out substantially, but his underbite has also improved dramatically. It’s to the point that we’re actually hopeful that he won’t need the reverse (i.e., protraction) headgear to finish the job. Only time will tell, but we couldn’t be happier with his progress thus far.

See also:
- Braces for an Eight Year Old
- Orthodontia and Armpit Farts
- Braces for an Eight Year Old, Update #2
- Braces for an Eight Year Old, Update #3
- No More Braces For Our Eight Year Old (For Now)

“If your baby is beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time, you’re the grandma.” — Theresa Bloomingdale