Merida No More

Look what I woke up to Saturday morning: my sweet, little girl watching a movie while writing out her favorite scripture to share with a school friend, who'd earlier shared with her a favorite.  (Lil'S was quick to join her after I got him out of his crib.)  I chatted with her for a moment and took the scissors she'd been working with to put them away since Lil'S was now up.  After I turned and started to leave the room, I spotted something on the floor.  A curl of hair.  I picked it up and turned around.  

"H?"  Another curl of hair.  "Did you cut your hair?"  

"Yes."  She answered.  

Me in shock: "This is the first time you've cut your hair."

"No, remember, when I hid behind that board?"

I couldn't remember that time,
but I figured she must've been pretty small.

  

Upon closer examination, I learned the extent of this additional activity H had been up to while S and I were still in bed.

zoned in front of the tv

Oh, dear.

Not even the Romans appreciated Mullets.  

Or, maybe I should say Nero did, but his biographer did not.  

I side with his biographer.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"Because I wanted short hair like ___ and [S, her best friend at school]."

"Oh.  Well, next time talk to me about it first, okay?
It's not okay to cut your hair by yourself."

"[H], where did you put your hair?"

"In the garbage."

Well, I guess the difference between a three-year-old cutting her hair and a six-year-old cutting her hair is that a six-year-old cleans up after herself.  I was actually quite impressed there.  Mess Management is not my favorite aspect of Motherhood.  I think it was easier to forgive her for cutting her amazing hair without consulting me first simply because her beautiful hair wasn't strewn across the floor.  And, I guess being reminded that I'd enjoyed Ben & Jerry's with my hubby the night before helped soften the blow as well.  ;)

Goodbye lovely locks!

:(

Time for some serious hair-cutting.  But, as is typical in our family
anytime anything important is supposed to happen, we played first.

Then we had baths and lunch and put little brother to bed 

so he didn't get any ideas.  Next came zoning out H in front of the tv

so I could fix her hair.

With how much she cut from the front, I had to go short.

Really short.

Her response?

Tears.

"I look like a boy!"

"I hate my hair!"

Oh, dear. . . .  Well, that's what happens when you cut your hair by yourself!

After nap time we pulled out my laptop to show her women with short hair. I also showed her my cousins' daughter, A, who has short, red hair.  H then wanted to see Ms. J, her art teacher, who has short(er) hair, as well as Ms. M and Ms. L, her kindergarten teachers.  So, we went to the school website and pulled up their pictures too.

The trick worked!

Phew!
(She's being super silly in this vid.  It was an hour past her bedtime as I had to touch her hair up some more.)

I've had a hard time adjusting to this as well.  H received her red ringlets from my grandmother, and seeing them would remind me of her and a funny story she once told me.  One night she went to a high school dance (with my Grandpa?) and her hair was still a bit wet, so it curled up tight around her shoulders.  While she was dancing, kids would sneak up behind her and pull on her ringlets, stretching them clear down her back.  This didn't embarrass her a bit, and she laughed along with the rest of them at how fun her hair was to play with.  (The slinky wasn't invented yet. ;) )  

BYU-I Baby

ta-da!!!

Complete with the famously stationary Elder Bednar hair.

A Real Boy Haircut!

On Jan. 3rd, I got a sudden urge to take advantage of a few moments to cut Lil'S's hair.  I'd wanted to do it for a while--at least once his baby locks could be swept beneath his shirt collar, which was probably a couple weeks before Christmas!  It was 4:30 p.m., and I knew I had a few minutes before S would be home and went at it, although I guess I probably should have been cooking dinner.  Oh, well.  If I had cooked dinner, my son's hair would likely still be long at this point.  (I'm not exaggerating.  It took a whole week for me to get around to S's overgrown mop, and I still haven't trimmed H's hair or made an appointment to chop my own before this baby comes.)  I realized after I cut his hair that the lady at the post office who took him for a girl probably had been paying more attention to his long hair than his blue coat. ;) Was that sudden urge of mine a subconscious reaction to that???

before taking the razor to the top

and afterward

We had a European-style dinner to make up for the loss of time:  slices of salami, cheese, and bread.  I'm sure there were some veggies or fruit thrown in as well.  There usually is!

11 Months!

Actually, 11.5 months now....only two more weeks to the big 1!

(Sorry picts are late as usual.....although this time I really did have 11mo ones taken on time. They were deleted while "uploading" to the computer. Sad!)

Poor kid was recovering from the high fevers of Roseola,

though, so he was SO TIRED!!!

(I'd take Roseola over about any other illness to be honest.)

See?

Whatta loopy kid!

I love my boys!

Promenade

Not bad a bad pict, esp considering I was holding a kiddo at the same time.

Really, I was holding Lil'S during every shot I took--excepting those in which it's obvious he was on his own or being held by daddy, of course!

(Confession: I cropped the above pict. Gasp! Just had to get that off my chest.)

Tasty!

Please ignore the major mullet in this picture

and just look at how absolutely gorgeous

this baby--nix that--little girl is!

(Her curls tighten up when her hair has actually been done,

so, no, I don't normally let her run around looking like this...

um, at least when we actually leave the house....) ;)

More H hair picts

grouchy face

bed-head!

It's H!!

Here's my little girl 15 years from now!

And, really, this is much like how her hair would look now if it were thicker.

So, anyway, this is the look I've been searching for pictures of. Is it possible for a little, curly-headed girl to look like this all the time when she has a mom who doesn't take the time to style her hair everyday? Just wondering. . . .

Monday's the day. Tomorrow, I'm cutting my baby's hair--for the first time ever. Wish me luck!

Curly Hair

I really want to cut/trim H's hair before baby and family come. There are going to be too many pictures taken during a time when I'm most definitely not going to have the time to think about what her hair looks like. I'd like to do it myself because I'm such a control freak when it comes to hair. (Okay, maybe control freak isn't the right word. . . .) Pretty much, if I'm going to expend the effort to have it done, I want it to turn out the way I want it! :)

I want to keep the hair in front swept to the side as it is because that hair usually lays flat when left to itself anyway. Although, there is a little curl starting up to the side on the top, as you can see in the next picture. :)

Following are some "Wild Thing!" picts:

Her hair at the top of her head is longer than the hair underneath when it should be the other way around!

Here it is after I've finger-combed the back.

Her face shape is much like this, but her hair isn't as curly on top, so I'm not sure if we can pull off this look as her hair grows or not. . . .

. . . . Who was it that wrote that "ultimate" book on the care of curly hair, in all its varieties?

These two women, esp the one on the left, sport more the shape I want her hair to have--but with soft, little girl curls. The hair on top is straight, and then the sides and back are layered in a short cut. This is how I want her hair to look after it's been finger-combed! When she actually lets us wet it and put conditioner in it, then it'll curl more, like the following picture. However, hers won't be nearly as thick. (I really need a sweet, innocent little girl picture of this hairstyle!)

http://beauty.about.com/od/curlyhairstyles/ss/curlyhair2_9.htm

Here's how H's hair kinda looks after we've had to chance to "do" it, although her curls are not nearly as syncronized! It's not really my thing, although it's nice to see someone else sporting the same look!

Probably the best article I've come across regarding the taming of curly hair. It covers most everything I've read in a number of articles. Nice to have all the info in one place!

So, anyway, I think just shortening the back and leaving the top and sides (mostly) alone will do the trick, since the top and sides are already pretty short. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you don't think she really needs the back shortened, you haven't seen this:

Time to cut? Um, yeah, I'd say so!