High Maintenance Hair

Laura's First Haircut

Laura has amazing hair. Every single day complete strangers comment on how beautiful her hair is.

That's part of the reason that, after three and a half years, I'd still never taken her for a haircut. The idea of cutting off the curls was too difficult to even think about. I couldn't imagine Laura without all her hair. Laura herself had even said, "don't cut off my beautiful hair."

Unfortunately, during the last couple of months, we reached a critical point with her hair. It was just too crazy to maintain. She wouldn't let me touch it and we frequently went for a week (or more) without combing it. It was creating its own dreadlocks. Sadly, the time had come for Laura to lose her signature curly locks.

So a couple of weeks ago we arrived at a salon. I had to wipe away a few of my own tears, but Laura didn't seem to mind much at all. It helped that she thought the stylist was super great because she had pig tails with pink & purple rubber bands, which just happen to be Laura's favorite colors.

Before

Even the professional stylist couldn't comb out the ratty knots.

The first cut.

Oh, those curls!

Checking out the progress.

After
She looks so different with bangs, but I'm thrilled that there is still some curl!

You Think Friday the 13th is Scary?

Try Friday the 17th!

8:00 AM
Troy wakes up and fever from the night before seems to have subsided. I realize that fevers tend to rise later in the day, but he's already missed 5 days of school and this is, I think, the 100th day of school party. I know the teacher has an awesome science project planned that Troy won't want to miss, so I take him anyway and hope for the best.

9:15 AM
Meet with audiologist to test Laura's hearing. She doesn't hear 90% of the beeps in the headphones, or so she claims. Will stress out about her possible hearing (and likely related speech problems) until we can go in for a different type of hearing test. Probably a few weeks away.

10:15 AM
Call to find out if doctor can see Troy today. They say they are totally overbooked already. I beg...seriously beg...while explaining that Troy has been sick for 12 days now, missed gobs of school and fever recently returned. Receptionist relents and says the doctor can see him at 3:00.

2:00 PM
Notice our leopard gecko has moved to a part of the cage he doesn't normally go to. Babysitter mentions that she thinks he might be dead because he hasn't moved for a long time. I say "no, he's just like that." Reach in cage and poke him with a spoon. He is stiff as a board. Oh no. Gecko really is dead. Troy is going to be devastated.

2:30 PM
In car on way to school. Laura asks me "Mom, do people die?" This catches me off guard and I do my best to explain to her that yes, sometimes people do die when they are old, very sick with a bad disease, or get into an accident. How much is too much information for a 3-year old? I just want to be honest with her.

2:40 PM
Arrive at Troy's class to pick him up early for doctor's appointment. Kids are all making individual servings of ice-cream in baggies. This is THE science experiment in the liquids/solids unit that Troy has been waiting weeks for. I let him stay for as long as possible, but ice cream doesn't get chance to take shape before we really have to go.

2:55 PM
Drag Troy crying and at borderline tantrum stage out of the school. Vaguely promise to make homemade ice cream later. Am feeling extra guilty because I know that his pet gecko is dead.

3:00 PM
Arrive at doctor's office where Troy has temp of 101.6 and tests positive for strep throat. Oops, probably shouldn't have sent him to school today after all...shit, I'm the worst mother ever. Doctor is also kind enough to look in my throat. Feel stupid saying "aghh" for cute pediatrician. I pass. So does Laura, thankfully. Doctor says he will send RX to pharmacy.

3:40 PM
Laura tells Troy that the gecko is dead. Troy doesn't believe her. I have to confirm it's true. Not sure what emotion that is in Troy's eyes now.

4:00 PM
Arrive at gymnastics. Laura refuses to use the bathroom before class starts.

4:10 PM
I take Troy with me for a quick trip to Costco (yes, so we can continue to spread his strep germs to everyone in spokane) while Laura is at gymnastics. At some point realize that I left my phone at home and don't know what time it is. Better hurry up and get back to pick up Laura.

4:40 PM
Arrive back at gymnastics. Barely sit down in viewing area and begin scanning gym for Laura. Mom next to me says "oh, did they talk to you about what happened to Laura?" Cue the look of terror in my eyes and heart jumps out of my chest. Oh my god, I didn't have my phone... Run downstairs and see coach carrying Laura towards me. Says she hurt her ankle while doing tuck jumps on the trampoline. Has ice pack and lots of tears.

4:45PM
Leave gymnastics and realize that it's her knee that hurts. She won't put any weight on her leg. Wonder what I should do. Maybe go to urgent care for an x-ray or something?

5:01 PM
Arrive at pharmacy. Prescription has not been sent. Ask to use phone so I can call doctor's office. They closed - 2 minutes ago. (of course they did.) Call the children's hospital triage and ask them if they can reach the pediatrician.

5:04 PM
Laura is in shopping cart, screaming that she just peed in her leotard and I see drips in the cart. Run to bathroom which is naturally located at the completely far back & opposite corner of pharmacy in big box store. Get things cleaned up, but now Laura doesn't have any pants on.

5:15 PM
Back to pharmacy part of store. They still haven't heard from doctor.

5:35 PM
Arrive home to find husband nearly falling out chair in midst of major coughing fit. Is that a lung he just coughed up?

5:45 PM
Confirm that pharmacy now has prescription. Back to the south hill...

10:00 PM
Bedtime, thank God.

(Note: Troy is 100% better, Laura's knee no longer hurts, Michael & I are on the path to recovery from this nasty cold, the gecko is in his coffin awaiting burial and we might even make ice cream later.)

Classics

I've often found myself wishing that I was familiar with many more classic novels and films than I currently am. So I've started attempting to catch up. I probably need to print out some must-read or must-watch lists and just start checking them off. But for now I've added a few movies to my Netflix queue that for some reason I missed the first time. Most are just pop-culture, but others are timeless. A few that I've watched so far...Breakfast at Tiffany's, Say Anything and Footloose. Funny list...I know. I'd love to know what your favorite classics are so that I can add those to my list as well.

I've also been reading some classic novels to Troy. We started with Black Beauty (can you believe I had never read this book or watched the movie?) I balled my eyes out reading the book to him. I'm such a girl, I cry about anything. I mean (spoiler alert) the horse does not even die at the end like I had expected. But I cried through most of it anyway. I even cried reading the "about the author" page. Now we are reading a junior-readers version of Moby Dick that I picked up at a yard sale. Yes, another classic I had no clue about. So imagine my surprise when they started harpooning those poor whales. Troy can't get enough of this book. I've never seen him so enthralled by any other chapter book. But then again, I guess it shouldn't be too difficult to compete with titles like The Mouse & the Motorcycle and Hank the Cowdog.

Now that I think about it, there are a ton of Broadway shows that I have no clue what they are about either. Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, and West Side Story come to mind. Hmm...might be a good excuse to join my husband on a business trip he has to NY this fall. I'm sure he'll like that idea..."Do you mind if I purchase an expensive airline ticket to NYC and also a bunch of expensive Broadway show tickets while I'm there?" Why would he say no? LOL.

I resemble the remark a friend of mine used make, "I'm about as cultured as a box of wine!" Now let's see if I can change that up a bit. Next up on the book list...Wuthering Heights for me and Treasure Island for Troy.

Happy Birthday Michael (42)!

Happy Birthday to my husband. Always the coolest & most fashionable guy around. I love you.

Best Friends

Me (Reading Story to Laura): "Pooh and Christopher Robin are best friends. They love to spend time together and have fun."

Me: Laura, who is your best friend?

Laura: You are Mommy!! (big hug)

Laura is 3!

 



DC

Better late than never.

We spent some time this past April exploring the "other" Washington. The cherry blossoms were in bloom and the weather was warm enough to swim in the hotel's outdoor pool. Perfect! We visited all the usual places like the Smithsonian museums, the capital buildings & monuments, the national zoo, the national cathedral, and lots more. My favorite was when I finally said "no more Metro" and instead started to drive around all the different neighborhoods. They are gorgeous. I discovered that DC isn't really a town for kids. I rarely saw a child younger than 10. Turns out not many kids live in the city either, which is why you won't find many parks with play structures. I no longer take that for granted in Spokane. Here we can go just about anywhere and have a park to play at. Not so in DC.



Why is it that at the zoo kids always have more fun playing on the animal statues than they do looking at the actual living animals? Someone should open up a zoo of just concrete animals. I'm sure my kids aren't the only ones who would love it.

Love the scrunched up nose smiles.

A friend told me that we should visit Georgetown Cupcakes while we were in DC. It's the small...no make that tiny...cupcakes-only bakery behind TLC's hit show "DC Cupcakes". We waited in line for at least 30 minutes to enjoy our $4/ea. cupcakes. They were good, but they weren't THAT good. Now I've got to watch the show.

We also had a chance to visit with some friends we hadn't seen in ages and say hello to a few relatives in the area. If you ever get the chance to visit Hershey Pennsylvania, don't miss out on the tour of Chocolate World. So much fun that Laura slept through most of it!

DC was a great change of scenery. I'm looking forward to taking the kids back again once they've had a chance to learn a bit about American history in school. But in the meantime I wouldn't mind going back without the kids. Hmm...let's put that on the calendar!