Lily Has Been Counting the Days

  Yesterday was huge in Lily's world.

She couldn't sleep the night before.

She bounced with excitement and sparkled in anticipation for 10:20 am Tuesday morning.

What was so exciting that it was worth losing sleep and getting up early to curl her hair?

 Can you tell?

 "Look, Ma! No more braces!"

 Her orthodontist told me that he wished he'd had a video of her first glimpse in the mirror after removal. In case you don't remember, she was really excited to get her braces on, way back in February of 2012.  

Here's a photo from that first day:

It's so strange how kids change through this whole process.  When the braces go on, the child looks so much older, and then when they come off . . .

 . . . all of a sudden, they're grown up and so beautiful.

 Grown up, beautiful, but still silly.

This last shot is my favorite.  Every time she caught herself in a reflection, she would stop, flash a smile, and then burst into wiggly, squiggly, giggly joy at the sight of her teeth.

When did she grow up and get so pretty?  I was here every day and I don't remember when it happened . . .