A couple kid milestones to share.

First, C got her braces taken off yesterday. This was both early and late. She was originally pegged to be in them 22–24 months, and this was just month 17. But it was also late because she missed an appointment during lockdown so likely would have had them removed 4–6 weeks ago had she stayed on that schedule.

She was thrilled to get them removed, although a bit bummed that some of the ceremony that goes with having them taken off has been wiped out by the Covid era. No little celebration in the office, no basket of popcorn and candy. We’ll make up for that some other way, so it all evens out.

Her teeth look great. The only bummer was that she – in a total shock – got some calcification/discoloration from eating too much sugar and letting it sit under her braces too long. Mom was not pleased with that but it was kind of a sure thing to happen to that kid. She will now wear her retainer 24/7 for 10 weeks before being evaluated again.

Now two down on the braces tip, L likely to start her routine in the next calendar year.

The other milestone is that M was elected as a sophomore class officer.

A few weeks back she told us that she wanted to run for student council. “Cool, go for it!” was our response. A couple days later she said she changed her mind and wanted to run for class officer. Which confused me. “What’s the difference?” I asked. “Aren’t class officers part of student council?” Or at least that’s the way I remember it from 30+ years go when I was in high school.

She explained that student council and class officers are two different groups at CHS, and have two different sets of responsibilities.

Whatever, we were still supportive and onboard.

Unlike the old days where parents would help their kids make posters and buttons or whatever when running in a school election, now kids can kind of do it all on their own. M had to submit a video, and a couple of her friends helped with that. She never showed it to us so I have no idea what she said or what her tone was.

She dropped it into the appropriate digital folder and waited anxiously for election day. There were 14 or 15 kids running, and the top 7–8 vote getters would be the winners. The kid that got the most votes would be class president, the remaining winners would all get the same title of class officer. No secretary, treasurer, etc.

Election Day arrived and she was nervous. That nervousness increased when they extended voting an extra day. Given all the controversy about the act of voting in federal, state, and local elections right now I couldn’t help but wonder why voting was being extended and who made the decision. Then I remember that it was high school and the likely aim was to get more kids to vote.

She was hoping to hear the evening of the second day of voting. Students used a Google form to submit their votes so it wasn’t like teachers were counting slips of paper. But no email came out that night and she got more nervous.

The next day, right around lunch time, she texted me that she had been elected. She was pretty excited. One of her friends from St P’s also made the cut.

Her first task is helping to pick the class theme for homecoming. I’ve had to drop her off extra early at school the past two Wednesdays so she can attend meetings. After that they will plan one of the dances and another event in the spring. Assuming any of that happens.

Regardless of what they do and if they get to do it, it’s a cool accomplishment and a nice addition to her list of activities when it comes time to send out college applications.

It is always interesting to watch your kids accomplish things. M and I are very alike in many ways. That’s why we argue the most. But she also has a healthy dose of her mother. I would never have run for any kind of school election. She is much more outgoing than I was at the same age. I don’t know what her actual level of popularity is, but from my perspective she seems pretty popular. That’s all from her mom.

While I’m sure she has plenty of teenage hangups, she seems a lot more comfortable in her own skin than I ever did in high school. I’ve always said I had no worries about her finding a path in life. So far she’s proving me correct in that assessment.