Anna's First Haircut

I decided before Thanksgiving that it was time for Anna's first haircut, at just over 2 years 8 months old.  While her curly 'do hid the mullet she really rocked, whenever I put her hair into pigtails it was noticeable that one pigtail was longer than the other.  The baby fine ends from the first hair she ever grew were really making her hair extra tangled and knotted.  We really just trimmed off a little to make the ends even, and honestly you can not tell that it's any shorter.  But I can tell when I style her hair that it looks and feels better to me.

As straight as it gets during a bath- past the middle of her back!

One last pre-cut photo (in case, you know, she loses the curls)

She was ecstatic to be able to get a haircut "just like Sam" this time, and hopped right up into the chair. She held pretty still but near the end asked to get down before it was all done, because I think she was tired of sitting still.

Post cut

 

Now that I made the plunge and got the first trim done, I'm sure next time I will have an easier time seeing those curls snipped without fear of losing them!

Ooo La La!

 More than a year ago, this little girl had next to no hair.

A few days ago, I braided her hair in french braids for the first time.  Every time I do her hair, I thank my lucky stars for a little girl who holds still and humors me when I do something to her head.

And oh my, did she look grown up in her french braids, jeans and 3/4 length sleeves!

Wordless Wednesday- Anna's impression

Anna's Nick Nolte impression

Curly hair makes some awesome bedhead. Poor girl just woke up after an almost 4 hour nap and was still a little groggy.

See the resemblance?

Or maybe she's just more in style than her mama.

A little more awake... but still rockin' the Nick Nolte 'do.

Wordless Wednesday Pigtails

Every time I see my daughter in curly pigtails, I am overwhelmed from the cuteness.

Mama Loves Cute Curls

I find it incredibly ironic that Julia over at Pontification of a Twin Mom shared a fabulous hair detangler for her mama loves product/idea yesterday, because I fully intended to also discuss my love of hair detangler spray this weekend.  Her girls have straight hair, and it works great for getting those tangles out.  For us, I love our hair detangler for a different purpose.

Anna's hair has been curly since it was long enough to amount to anything (which was at about 16 months old).  My hair was straight until a God-awful perm in 6th grade and it hasn't been straight since then without lots of effort from a heavily used flat iron, so I really was clueless about what to do for toddler curly hair versus adult curly hair.  I'm smart enough to know that brushing curls=frizz and is about the worst thing you can do to curls, but of course I didn't want to product up my little girl's baby-fine hair like I do my own curls from time to time. 

Maybe I'm the only one that didn't know this, but after my daycare provider clued me in to the benefit of hair detangler and curls on Anna's hair, I watched it work its magic.  A few sprays of the stuff on dry or wet hair and Anna's hair was non-frizzy, curls defined, but not greasy or dirty looking.  Plus, it is still so soft!  I love winding my fingers in her corkscrew curls.  I only wish I loved my curls as much as I love hers.



Her hair is longer than it looks.  When wet and straight, it is well past her shoulders

I haven't been using a fancy hair detangler spray... but I did buy some California Baby Calming Hair De-Tangler after reading Julia's suggestion and have tried it out with great results.

So hair detangler spray= safe curl enhancer for baby and toddler hair.  Who knew?  Certainly not me!

I'm linking up with Julia's Mama Loves today!

Tuesday Tidbits

Sam's smile has morphed a little into a sweet little closed mouth smile.  He still grins a big open mouthed toothy grin when he's really happy, but sometimes now he'll smile with his mouth closed when he is content and just simply happy. 

Sam's favorite animal has changed in the last few weeks.  He now has a huge obsession with anything Llama (sheep are soooo last month).  His favorite books?  Llama Llama Red Pajama and Is Your Mama a Llama?  If you humor him by reading one of those books for the 20th time or so that day, he'll settle into your lap and flash you that closed mouth smile to let you know he's grateful you're reading it again.  It's a must before bedtime too.  We told him the alpaca at the State Fair was a llama (close enough) and he was pretty thrilled to see one up close.  That is, until it moved.

***

Anna's such a big imitator.  She picks up on things so easily and quickly because of her tendency to imitate everyone around her, both with actions and verbally.  Counting on her to imitate us is the best way for us to get her to do things- either eat more at mealtimes, cleanup, or learn signs.  I foresee an annoyed older brother if she continues to imitate as much as she does now when she gets older, though!  Her favorite thing to imitate right now is snorting or sneezing.

Anna's hair was much darker than Sam's when they were born.  Although his color hasn't changed much from his newborn hair, Anna's is much lighter now and has settled on a darker warm blond (slightly darker blond than Sam's but almost the same hue).  It took much longer for hers to get to growing, but now that it is, I am amazed at the curls on the ends.  The longer it gets, the more the curls roll up, making it seem like her hair isn't getting longer at all.  But when it's wet during a bath, her hair is well past her shoulders.  I love to wrap the little corkscrew curls in my fingers!

***

Today Anna bit Sam so hard, she broke his skin.  This was all because he had a toy she wanted and he wouldn't give it up.  While they have both attempted to bite before, this was the first time a lasting mark was made.  We marked the occasion with Anna's first ever time out.  Later, Sam had been up from nap for over an hour and I asked him if he wanted to go wake up Anna.  Before I could blink, he charged in the room (opening the door on his own on the first try) and patted her on the head in the crib before handing Anna her favorite book, Goodnight Gorilla.  ...I think he had forgiven her.

I'm Baaaack

My absence from posting should have been a good clue that I decided to push through whatever was holding me back and go on my little mommy-cation by myself.  I left Monday morning... and returned Wednesday (the earliest I was thinking I'd return).  It was possible for me to stay until Friday, but after one full day of relaxation, rest and rejuvenation- the advantage of having more time to continue relaxing was outweighed by the amount I missed my family.  So I came home.  It was amazing how easy a 7 hour drive was without two non-napping toddlers in the back!

I got tan.  I read 1 and a 1/2 books (The Help and The Happiest Toddler on the Block).  I swam.  I slept in.  I watched a movie without multitasking by doing something else at the same time.  I unplugged and did not go on a computer for 3 days in a row.  It was very nice.

I also made Anna these hair clips and two hair clip organizer boards to hold all of the clips she has, now that she has enough hair to be able to wear them!  (One board is larger for later, once she has more hairclips and needs more room.) I used fabric that was incorporated into the quilt my friend made before Sam and Anna were born, so it goes with the colors we have in the nursery, and will coordinate with the stuff in her room once we separate them into their own rooms.  We are attempting to get rid of her pacifier once and for all this weekend, and I'm planning on giving her the hair clip board as a "big girl" gift afterwards.

 

(The hair clips I made)

(The empty board)

(All the hair clips I have for Anna's hair on the board)

I also got bit by a few flies on my feet, and for me this is bad news, because I am severely allergic to fly bites.  My feet swelled up and were insanely itchy.  In the past I've had fly bites that have swollen my eye shut and swelled joints so badly that I couldn't bend my arm or knee.  Besides missing my children and husband, that was the other biggest downer to my mommy-cation.

My husband did great without me.  Sam and Anna did just fine too.   I'm glad I went, and glad I came home when I did.  It was just enough time for me.  I think I might just do it again next August!