This guy has gone through a lot in his short life.
The choice to keep him in my life was a choice to be a single parent.
When he was 6 months old I went back to university to finish my degrees and he
was raised by a myriad of caregivers, friends, and family until he was 5 when I finished all of
my schooling. I saw him for mere hours every day. Sometimes not at all... We moved a lot
from small apartments, basement apartments, to finally a small condo where we ended up
staying for a few years.
I have no idea what all of that turmoil has done to his psyche,
but he's turned out to be a really great kid. He's gifted in music and sports and has a
wicked sense of humour.
But wouldn't you know it, life has thrown him for a loop again...
Check out the tooth.
Sideways. Completely sideways.
About a year ago he had an extra tooth come through the roof of his
mouth and pushed some of the other teeth aside. Totally to the side! So now
Phoenix has a palette expander in his mouth to make room for the tooth to turn
around, and next week he will get braces. Yay..
He's actually looking forward to braces because right now he's suffering from a
pretty good bout of low self-esteem. He wants to smile again.
Like this:
Well hopefully not exactly like this..
