23 years

Today is Taylor's 23rd birthday. It sure is nice to say "is" and not "would have been".

He is still working the muscle to help create the smile, but he hasn't quite mastered triggering it automatically. The Surgeon said some patients reported that they deliberately triggered the smile (gritting their back teeth while smiling) so often that it now is just something that happens automatically without them even thinking about it.

We've been reminding Taylor to do that, but at his age he probably sees it as nagging. Oh well. He now has a more even smile than he's had in 2.5 years, so that's really all that matters.

He returns to Johns Hopkins either later this month or early next month for a Doctor's visit to check his progress.