Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I know, the post below just talked about how I have no time for self-reflection and then here I go and post this giant rambling post. That's because really I wrote a lot of this one on my lunch break a few days ago... All kinds of things have been happened that I want to blog about. Where to start...well, Bella got her first haircut. She had the typically baby mullet going on and her bangs were hanging in her face and catching on her eyelashes which I could tell was bugging her. Then there was the whole yogurt factor. Bella loves to feed herself and eating yogurt is a favorite activity. The long bangs would get covered in yogurt which would then dry into these shiny, crusty, matted spikes - bang-cicles if you will. It was gross. Glitz and Glam were all booked up on the remaining Saturdays that they are open (they are going out of business at the end of the month). I am hoping to find out where their stylist plans to go because honestly I wasn’t all that pleased with how Bella’s hair came out at the place where we went. The lady cut Bella’s bangs crookedly and then kept making more passes at them until they were even, so they would up a lot shorter than I had wanted. And she didn’t blend the bangs in with the sides so the part around her ears looks kind off odd because it is longer than the bangs but shorter than the back. You know, like in the 80’s when the sides would feather back, again not what I had envisioned. In retrospect, my feeling is that the $14 could have been better spent on a pack of diapers and a chai latte. To my eyes Bella is so scrumptiously adorable that she can have any kind of hair style and still be perfect. Before: After: Doesn't it look like she's saying, "Mom, what happened to my bangs???" I should also mention that Jacob has also recently gotten a hair cut. I was not there to supervise, or maybe it would have turned out differently. My husband claims that he didn't understand what the stylist meant by "layers". I'm not mad at Will, as a wife, I'm fairly sure that explaining about layering of hair falls upon my shoulders and I guess in ten years of marriage it just never came up. He has since been educated on the subject! I don't have an "after" of him yet, but here's a before that shows off his beautiful golden locks, which are now as extinct as the dinosuar in the background... sob...sniffle... On to other topics... We went to "The Restaurant" (aka Fiesta Azteca) this week and as usual Jacob came with me to explore the wonders of the ladies room. We’ve been going to this same restaurant since Jacob was little so I can very clearly remember all the stages we’ve gone through in there. We’ve gone from using the changing table, to me stuffed into the stall with him while he would precariously perch with his little bottom on the edge of the toilet for what seemed like hours, and then having to heft him up to the sink to wash his hands. I would recite the typical Mom public bathroom litany –“Don’t touch anything. Don’t put that in the toilet. Don’t peak under the stall at that lady, leave that alone, remember to wipe. Remember to flush. OK, let’s wash hands; don’t touch the trash can, etc.” I don’t always stop and marvel at all the little changes because they are more gradual at this age. But I did notice this week that Jacob headed off to his own stall, locked the door, did his business, got his clothes back on, pushed up his sleeves and washed his hands - all on his own. We danced a little to the music they play in there and then we came out. Our children grow and change and it just melts into our daily lives, I don’t always notice everything like I wish I would, or celebrate these milestones the way I did when they are babies. I need to do that more. Bella is also growing up; her vocabulary and understanding have skyrocketed. She is talking and signing all the time. I keep dated lists of her vocabulary and she has about a hundred words now (which is kind of my cue to stop keeping the list and just chalk her up as a “talker” don’t you think?). One of the cutest things she does right now is whenever I ask something like “Who wants to help feed the dog?” Or “Who wants to take a bath? She’ll yell “Meeeee!!!” and come running to where I am. Bella is still nursing in the mornings (I’ll save you the math, she’s almost 18 months) and she refers to it as “apple milk” which is quite creative if you think about it. I’m really fine with keeping up our nursing relationship this long, there are a lot of benefits, (go ahead google it) I’m equally fine with the fact that we are probably nearing the end. She is sometimes happy with just a snuggle instead. Either way we have a few moments of peace and quiet each day to reconnect, which is nice. Peace & Quiet are not words that often describe a day with Bella May. Unlike Jacob, she is a child that likes to get into things - big time. She is stealthy and fast. Here she managed to get into, well, my stuff. See how her cheek is all puffed up? That would be because she was eating my makeup sponges. I believe she thought they were marshmallows. Honestly I had only left her alone for a second while I went to the restroom, with the door open so I could check on her!