For some reason I do not like having my children's hair cut. Maybe it's the thought that their sweet little newborn locks are still on their head and therefore cutting them means losing that "baby" part of them. Or maybe I'm just crazy. My husband would probably vote for the latter. With Lailey, I did not take her to have a haircut until close to 2. Then we had a boy. With soft blonde hair...that grew fast. I couldn't put it off anymore. I didn't want him to look like a girl, and if I put a bow on him with his sweet little face, he was close to passing as one. So, being the diy-er that I am, I checked out some videos on Youtube and took the plunge. Surely, it couldn't be that hard, right? (By the way, my "back-up plan" was to not take too much off and if it started looking scary then I would take him to a pro.) Here are the steps I took...
BEFORE (1)
AFTER (1)
1. Choose a time when the kid is happy.
2. Put child who watches very little tv right in front of a big, colorful, flatscreen in a high chair.
3. Insert "Baby Signing Time" dvd (also known, affectionately, as "baby crack." They love it.)
4. Get some sharp scissors. I used my sewing shears the first time, but found some other, smaller, pointier ones for the next time. Obviously, haircutting shears would be better, but the time and cost would equal just paying for a professional haircut. Plus, I like to use what I already have.
5. Pick a good snack. Cheerios did the trick for us.
6. Wet hair with a comb dipped in water and slowly, carefully, snip snip snip. Again, I watched a couple videos so I pulled from that knowledge and my memory of watching people get haircuts.
BEFORE (2)
AFTER (2)
I was very excited that it turned out so well, and one month later repeated the process and took more hair off. He looks so cute with his boy-ish haircut! Can't beat free "mom cuts!"
So, back to Lailey. Only one real haircut in her life and one tiny trim. I was getting tired of the whining when I had to brush her very long hair. I love her hair, but I was okay with a change. She was thrilled to be getting a haircut! Now her hair looks so much healthier without all the wispy uneven ends.
The main reason I'm so behind on blogging is that we have had so. much. fun. this summer. I mean, ridiculous amounts of good old-fashioned clean fun. Most of it is free, cooked up right at our house or just around town. I will dedicate other posts to big events of the summer, but for now these pictures will tell a little of the story...
Slip-n-slide at Grandpa's house
Sprinkler time
LOVE their expressions
Mmmm...popsicle!
Rockin' the ladybug boots
I still love popsicles to this day, and Lailey does too
More sprinkler fun
Drivin' with the Chick-Fil-A cow.
Every time we go to Truett's Lailey has to drive the car. I believe it's really a bumper car, but she just thinks it's hers. The awesome cow jumped in for some fun this time and made her day. She wants to bring the cow home. Too bad he won't fit in the car.
My goodness, time has flown since over two months ago when I posted, and even longer since I did a post on Maddox. He is now 11 mos. and growing like crazy. At his last appointment he was 18.9 lbs. He's rolling and army crawling all over the place, pushing back to sitting, saying "da-da" a lot, and eats just about anything we give him. Pasta, pb & j, pizza, yeah, anything he can feed himself and make a nice big mess. It's amazing what he can do with one tooth. He has appeared to sign "more" several times, "all done" once, and copied me when I signed "milk" the other day. He definitely wants to communicate but right now only knows how to use grunting and whining. I will be thrilled when he picks up on the whole baby signing thing since it will be so nice to know what he wants.
He's a great sleeper, still taking two solid naps and sleeping 12+ hours each night.
He loves family and older kids of course when he gets lots of attention.
Lailey, cousin Katie, cousin Gracie, and Maddox
Along with feeding himself he can drink from a straw cup and really likes to do so. He still really likes his bottle for mealtimes, but we're working on transitioning to a cup.
He is the sweetest, happiest little guy I know. He wakes up smiling, goes to bed smiling, loves to laugh, will smile at anybody, and is all in all a pretty easy going kid. He and Lailey adore each other, which I'm sure won't last forever, but is sure a joy to watch right now.
Oh and one more thing: he gives kisses and hugs...but only to me. :)
We had the privilege of joining Grandpa (my Dad) for a trip to the Aquarium. Amazingly, these aren't even all the pictures! We had a great time and spent most of the day there. I'll let the pictures tell the story...
Lailey coming down the giant blue whale slide
Davey with his Five Finger shoes coming out first. I love this!
Lion fish checking out Lailey
Starfish!
Davey being brave
She'll touch anything (especially things I don't want her to!)
Maddox was chill as usual and just hung out.
Inside the bubble
These things can get as big as cars! (see sign above)
Mr. Eel...
And his cousin. See the resemblance?
Weedy Sea Dragon
Beluga whales
Lailey (left) with two little girls, checking out the enormous belly of the whale shark.
Lailey and Davey and the whale shark
Wow!
I never get tired of watching them.
Lunch break! Fun little things to climb on in the cafeteria.
Grandpa enjoying the aquarium tunnel
Who's in there?
This window was concave and she climbed in and appeared to be inside the tank. Check out the giant manta ray.
She loved her little bubble.
A little perspective of just how enormous those things are.
Jellies
Fish face!
Pacific Barrier Reef exhibit
Yikes! The albino alligator. This is creepy!
The best (and largest) tank in the whole place. I could sit there for hours and watch everything.
We didn't even make it out of the parking garage before she was out. :)
[Lailey is the one in purple shorts] Disclaimer: This video is edited to show the parts that she actually did what she was supposed to! Don't be fooled: there was much more goofing off than shown here. Haha!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was when I took Lailey to her first trial gymnastics class! I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I took gymnastics as a kid, and though I was never great at it, I had so much fun. Walking into the gym, smelling the chalk, sitting with everyone on the bleachers waiting for her class to start, I think I was more excited than she was! Anyway, I sent my little 3-year-old off with 3 other little girls and their coach. Let the games begin...
Lailey, exuberant and energetic, started well. She eagerly went with the coach, sat on the floor to warm up, tried to do what was asked of her, but then she started to get mischievous. She wouldn't stay in line, didn't quite get the whole "following directions" concept, and ran off no less than 5 times!!! As in, just took off across the gym because apparently something else looked more interesting than waiting her turn to do a somersault or whatever it was she was supposed to do. I'm pretty sure every parent watching knew her name by the end of the class, since the coach had to call her a hundred times. Oh, it was hilarious. It was all I could do to stifle my laughter! She is 3 after all, and this was her first time in a structured activity like gymnastics. At one point, I thought "Hopefully the hour will be over soon and the poor coach can stop chasing my kid!" I looked at the clock. Only twenty minutes had passed! Yikes.
The coach was fantastic. Very (very) patient, kept a great pace, very structured, lots of actual gymnastics skills and not just play time. However, when the hour was over and she walked Lailey back to me, I was expecting to hear that she wasn't ready for the 3-year-old class, and the 2-year-old class (more play, less structure) would be a better fit. What's this? She did a "great job"? She'll "get used to everything"? This class would be "great for her"? Pardon me, are we talking about the same kid, here? Well, I guess we are. Sign us up!
Now this may sound like I am not proud of Lailey, which is untrue. I'm very proud of her. Judged on her willingness to try things, her fearlessness, and her physical abilities, she was spot on. I guess the coach can see her potential, which is awesome. I just want her to have fun being active. A little following directions would be nice too.
Tomorrow is her first real class. Before I signed her up, we talked about what was going to be required of her and things she needed to do better. Twice this week, while mentioning gymnastics, she independently said, "Mommy, I'm going to stay with my coach." So our talk made some impact. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!
