6th Grade Graduation

Last Thursday, Darrius' school had their Promotion Ceremony. The kids in teh 6th grade are leaving behind elementary school and headed to the big league - Middle School. I don't know where the time has gone. It feels like just yesterday I was registering D for kindergarten. My baby is no longer a baby.

The graduates seats

Of course, with the last name starting with W, you're destined to sit in the back

Darrius' "graduation" certificate

D got the Presidential Fitness certificate

The grandparents came out to celebrate the occassion

After the ceremony, there was cake and punch at the school. Afterwards, we went to Darrius' favorite restaurant, Bertucci's, for some brick-oven pizza. Once lunch was over, the grandparents headed home and I became a taxi for 4 ex-sixth graders. They had their graduation party at a bowling alley.

Now it's summer and Darrius will be attending summer camp. He also has homework that will count as his first English test grade. I still can't believe he's going to middle school. Time truly goes by too fast.

Braces!

I'm about 3 weeks late posting this but you know the saying, Better late than never. We finally did the deed - Darrius got his braces! After a year and half of pre-orthodontia treatment, the orthodontist finally said that Darrius was ready for braces. He has all of his permanent teeth, including his 12 yr old molars. I couldn't believe it since he's only 11!  But first, he had to have 4 teeth pulled.

Here they are. All 4 of them. Root and all. Aren't they huge?

Once the teradyctal teeth were pulled and he had a week to heal, it was time to get the braces on. The entire process took 2 1/2 hours. Darrius was a trooper the entire time.  He also got his braces "decorated" with colored plastics that they put on the braces. He got them black and gold - the colors of the Baltimore Ravens.

Cheese!

Once we got home and the Tylenol wore off, he was in a lot of pain. And no longer excited about having the braces. He had difficulty eating for about a week but now that we're almost a month in, he's finally getting used to them. He had a band concert tonight and I didn't think about how the braces would affect his clarinet playing. Whenever he had a break, I'd catch him massaging his jaws. But he soldiered through.

He has to wear the braces for 2 - 2 1/2 years. Darrius already has a great smile; it's going to be a showstopper once we finishes the treatment. Watch out!