Today was Hannah's first orthodontic appointment. They needed to get records, so she had x-rays, photographs, and finally molds of her teeth. She was cheerful through all of it until the molds. The tech surprised her with the cold mucky putty. Hannah immediately teared up. She did NOT like it. Fortunately it didn't take long for the mold to set, so she had some time to recover before they did the upper teeth.

I think she didn't like it because it had a minty scent/taste. She can't stand mint at all. (I get to eat all the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies!)

She cried through the upper teeth mold too, but settled down with a little distraction with a Rainbow Fairies book.

Here's the finished product:

She goes back in a few weeks to get braces on her upper teeth. They'll add the lower braces in a few months.

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We've been raising some caterpillars from our garden. I had been waiting and waiting for them to show up on our parsley, but I never saw them. I figured that the butterflies just missed us this year. Then I decided to clear out the carrot patch, and midway through I discovered a couple dozen caterpillars on the carrot tops! I never grew carrots in the summer before (and won't again--too bitter from the heat), so it didn't occur to me that they were also good nursery for black swallowtail butterflies.

We gave some to friends, and the rest we brought in to grow and transform in an aquarium.

Here is a picture of three chrysalides on a stick. It's interesting that two of them turned brown to match the stick, but the lower one remained green.

Today we had three butterflies emerge! It's so much fun to set them free!

Listen carefully--Hannah whispers to the butterfly, "You're beautiful."

And today I found tiny baby caterpillars on my parsley!! So we'll have another round of caterpillar daycare. (Any locals who would like to have some bugs, just let me know!)