Hair!

I have always dreamed of playing with my little girl's hair.  Putting little clips in her hair, pony tails, braids...  But Laci will have none of that!  I assumed that my daughter would be born a blond like I was and then it would slowly darken into a brunette.  Imagine our surprise when she came out a redhead.  I love it.  All of her hair fell out after a month and it took 6 months before Charlie would agree that she had red hair.  It is already changing and it is more of a strawberry blond or auburn.  But it is still a beautiful color.  

She also had lots of baby curls.  Of course, I have straight hair and didn't have the foggiest clue for what to do with curls.  I talked to my sister whose daughter has very curly hair for advice.  I talked to friends with curly hair for advice.  I banned the brush from the house.  All Charlie wanted to do was brush it!  I started using a comb for curly hair.  Her hair has settled down a lot which has helped.  After lots of tries, I think I have found a shampoo/conditioner/detangler combo that is helping.  We still battle in the morning and at night to comb her hair.  Charlie forces her to have it combed.  I settle for finger combing it or just the crazy frizz look in the morning and call it "character".  I thought that because I have long hair, I would have more patience with combing the knots out of her hair.  But it turns out that since I don't have any problems yanking my own head, I am too rough on her little head.  Charlie actually has more patience and is gentler than I am on her hair.   

She still never allows me to put ponies in or cute pig tails or barrettes.  Occasionally she will ask for a pony tail.  She will allow me to do a pony tail for gymnastics class.  I have gotten better with the small rubber bands because that seems to be the only thing that will stay in her hair.  She refuses a ponytail in the morning because it is hard to nap with one.  I can't blame her for that.  I always wear a pony but since I never get to take a nap, I don't have that problem.  Some days she lets the teachers at daycare do it and she will come home looking adorable.  I have never gotten a barrette to stay in her hair and she has never asked for one either.  She is my mother-in-law's only granddaughter.  So she made Laci a bunch of pretty barrettes that Laci refuses to wear.  I have heard from others that the key is to start the barrettes early when they are young and force it in there.  I guess that ship has sailed.  :) 

Calvin's hair is coming in super slowly.  It is still pretty fine and short.  With Laci and her long hair, I can get away with longer intervals between hair cuts.  But with boys, hair cuts may need to be more regular.  His hair is light and I am still holding out for a blond.  But my mom thinks he will start as a brunette too.  Just for fun, yesterday I put a nice purple ribbon in his hair to test out the "get them started when they are little" theory.  He was cute!

The other day when her older cousin was visiting, they played "salon".  It was so cute.  Lauren even put the smock on Laci to do her hair.  She loves playing with her big cousin.  Maybe this will be the start of letting me do her hair.  Braids, pony tails, pigtails...  And more importantly, someday she will be able to do her own hair and comb it in the morning herself!