Hairy Situation

My hair is not curly - more like a frizzy wave that I squelch with my beloved flat iron. Frizz and pouf are my enemies - and I was thrilled with Claire's lovely, long loose curls that just shined and were frizz free.

Chloe's hair was much darker at birth - and she kept her hair through her first year, instead of the nearly bald dirty blond that Claire had (or didn't have.) As Chloe's hair formed into the standard little girl mullet that always happens until you finally break down and trim the back, it... well... got curly.

It seems as the weeks and months go by, it just gets curlier. While getting my hair cut one day I asked my hairdresser what to do with it - she confirmed that curly hair tends to get curlier as kids age, and I needed to throw away her brush and invest in a wide tooth comb. Obediently, I did as she suggested and also picked up conditioner spray and spray gel.

Monday I consulted my curly haired work friend on how to manage the hair as it grew longer and more wild with the humidity. She pointed me to her favorite products and curly hair websites. Seriously? Websites dedicated to the care and products for Chloe's type - complete with frequently asked questions, articles on hair types and message boards that were answered by "experts" in the field. This was perfect for me.

I've now educated myself on proper curl care: no pony tails, no brushes, shampoo as little as possible, and the "rake and shake" technique. I'm browsing the product selection - Chloe will be the only 2 year old with more hair care items then her mother. Today I sent her to school without her usual pulled back 'do and tried a little spray gel after letting it dry naturally. Her teachers mourned her new shorter "hair cut" until I let them know that I did NOT cut her hair, but the humidity had just taken over. Maybe some different product will help....

She's All Ears ... and earrings

My stance on ear piercing for little girls has always been to allow her to choose when she is ready. Some people like to do it as babies or when the girls are old enough to do all the cleansing and turning that the new earrings require - either is fine with me, but I was OK with doing it early as long as the piercee wanted and understood the responsibility/pain/permanence etc.

Claire has been talking on and off about getting them done and I would explain that you have to take good care of pierced ears and clean them a lot and, oh by the way, it HURTS to have them done. Like a shot. Claire would always change her mind and say Nah, I'll wait until I am 5 1/2 (or whatever 1 year older then her current age is.)


This morning was different, because Claire is now four and three quarters old. Yesterday she asked me when she would be four and three quarters (having grown tired of being four and a half) and as it turns out, today is Claire's four and three quarters birthday. So she got up today saying that she has reached that magic age where you can withstand the pain of having your ears pierced.


We went to the mall this afternoon searching for Crocs for Chloe to replace the ones that are now crunching up her toes and Claire pulls us by the hand to ... what store? ... Claire's! Without any hesitation or mind changing, she picks out some Hello Kitty starter earrings and is up in the chair ready to go. She asks to sit on my lap during the stick and the gals at Claire's were nice enough to do both ears at once.






My stomach churned from the time we set foot in the store until... well, it is still churning with nerves now. Claire sat on my lap, still as a statue while they drew the dots on her lobes, lined up and POW! We now have permanent holes in her ears. *sniff*






In 9 seconds, the girl went through all the "rules" to take care of the new bling and we were on our way. Jason was so proud of Claire's bravery (what about mine?) that he promised her some "Silly Bandz" - the current rubber bracelet craze being pumped in masses right out of China. Four sold out stores later, Claire is sporting her new kitty earrings and a set of knock off Silly Bandz (ours are Zany Bandz, but hey.... close enough.)

A visit to The Big House

No, not jail. And not the University of Michigan's stadium either.

The other big house.

Kindergarten.

Claire even woke up nervous - a visit to her future school home for a tour and information session. Next year is the big kindergarten entrance, and the school had a great program to try to make the transition easier on the entering class.

The morning started in the cafeteria and a trip through the lunch line for some goldfish and apple juice to keep the little ones occupied while the school administrators bombarded the parents with information. Claire felt immediately at ease with the smell of tacos wafting through the food prep area - all I could think about was the cnn.com article about how under-nourished our school lunch programs are.

We took a seat at a table and I missed the first 10 minutes of the Principal's opening comments while I stared at the district calendar that was passed out. 17 days. From August until December they are out of school for 17 days - more then my entire year's worth of vacation. I go into math mode calculating babysitter costs, vacation splits and grandparent availability. Because I have to relate everything to a math problem, I see that there are 100 days of school from August until December. So, 17% of those days are not spent in school. Realizing that I could easily tailspin into these thoughts for a good hour or two, I cleared my head and focused back onto the topics being presented: dress codes, whether peanut butter is allowed and the speech from the school nurses on the proper way to bring medications to school.

After the intro's we started on the school tour - our group was headed by the outgoing PTA president and her incoming replacement. She showed us a real kindergarten class in progress, the media center (what I knew as the "library"), the science lab and the art room. Everything was brand new and the kids and teachers all looked engaged. Finally the highlight of the tour game - the practice bus boarding while the parents watched in 90 degree heat.

Claire seemed ready to make the leap to kindergarten, and her teachers sighed at the end of the day that she did chatter about her big kindergarten visit for the rest of the day.

When Life Hands You Bananas

I wouldn't say that I am a banana snob, but I do have my preferences. My bananas need to be a greenish shade of yellow without a spot of brown. Right at that point that the peel is a little tough to peel off. Not to brag or anything, but I have a unique talent to select bananas at the store that are still green but will turn to a perfect yellow - not the dreaded bunch that goes from green straight to brown. Yuck.

Because I was not the one to make the banana selection last weekend, we ended up with three freckled and sorry looking bananas this morning. I didn't even consider trying to sneak them into Chloe's breakfast - they were just that past their prime. A wave of domestic air happened to pass through the house at the exact moment I was opening the trash can to toss the foul trio into. I rounded up the girls and we raided the pantry for flour, brown sugar, eggs and butter and whipped up a loaf of banana bread on the fly. After we banished Chloe from helping (a.k.a. throwing glass bowls around and grabbing a softening stick of butter) Claire took over banana mashing duty (ick!) and ingredient stirring while I dug a medley of spices out of the cabinet to toss in.

"Cleaning" out the bowl

Mmmm... no need for the dishwasher now!

One hour and five minutes later our masterpiece was ready and starting to cool. Everyone had a piece or two for their afternoon snack and it was a hit! Even Jason dug in. I guess even non perfect bananas have their place in life!