Braces and Brothers

Litkia got her braces today. She was very brave and didn't do a lot of complaining until a few hours after the visit to the orthodontist. Luckily, we were told that this would be the case and the Advil was handy. She pointed to the place in her mouth that was most uncomfortable and told me that she thought the bracket on that particular tooth was too low. I told her that I felt like the orthodontist knew what he was doing when he put it there. She apparently thought about it for a while and came back to tell me that maybe I was right and possibly the bracket was low for a reason. She explained her revelation like this:

You know when you're pushing somebody in a swing and you push them by the head, they just fall out on the ground? But when you push them lower their whole body moves with the swing. They are probably just trying to get my whole tooth to move instead of making it just fall over.

This was good logic, but I seriously had a hard time getting past the part about her pushing somebody out of a swing by their head. How does she know the physics of toppling someone out of a swing by their head unless she's done it herself? Well, the obvious answer to that question is that someone has done it to her. I'll give you three guesses who might have done such a thing. Better yet, I'll just tell you it was Pateriko. He denies it vehemently but I don't believe him for one second.

It takes quite a bit of badgering to get Litkia to react. If she ever really yells, I know that whatever has been happening has gone way past the point of good natured pestering. I keep thinking it's a good thing she doesn't hold a grudge easily or the piles and piles of wrongs that have been done to her by her brother would have long ago come around to haunt him. But, having said that, I won't be surprised when it does. (Nor will I let it bother me in the least.)