20 February 2013

first hair cut, penguins and imagination

First: penguins. No, not my most embarrassing but sincere penguins-in-flight issue of last year, no no... this one is
RANDOM PENGUINS
seriously, my friends, worth a look, often a laugh.

Second: Della's first haircut. I mean, not just the cut off the random tangle, but a real ok, pretend-I'm-Brave edward scissor-hands sort of topiary frenzy quick before she freaks out, here's some chocolate bits... resulting in a wad-o-hair that was, well, just shy of three bags full:


A pre-cut photo from NOVEMBER for comparison:

And immediately post-haircut from monday with headband

And without (a little too neat, methinks, but hey, it will grow wild again)
 

I do have a massive regret, two actually-- one, of course, is not taking an immediately-before-photo.
And second, that I did not take a photo (or have one taken) of her wildhair in silhouette before cutting it. It was MAGNIFICENT in every way except anything that had to do with practicality. And I swear, it was getting the kind of knotted that turns to dreads and we are not ready to go there.  Maybe later but not quite yet.  So now I feel compelled to let it grow back out so we can get that photo. Ahhh regret. You suck rocks.

I've been having trouble with finding products.  Some from Mixed Chicks sounded *so promising* but they were SO INTENSELY SMELLY I literally could not use them.  Not just fragranced but so highly fragranced, that really, just, no. I mean, no way. I did not even put them on her hair.

Now we are using a california baby detangle spray in "CALMING" (for momma) and it smells wonderful and not strongly of anything once on, but it not quite moisturizing enough.  Ok internet land, suggestions? any other wildhaired babies out there with fine curly insane manes?  Anything NOT SMELLY that works for moisture?

Della talks about her big blue car and her big blue house. She talks about "tomorrow". (We will go in my big blue car to my big blue house tomorrow to play with friends)

We play make believe as often as possible-- I ask her questions about her stories and totally enjoy every single moment of everything.

She is singing and making up words to songs we know, and oh, it is really funny. Mary had a big blue car, big blue car.... yeah. I am loving the imagination stuff more than I can articulate.

Sprogblogger recently had a post that included a list of books that her beloved Henry is devouring.
I love books. I love reading. Reading has saved my ass, fed my soul, transported me away and toward, educated me, opened my mind, fulfilled me, left me longing and breathless, made me laugh, taken me on journeys, fed me feasts, ohhhhhhhh reading.
I imagined this: every day I would read to Della and every night we would read before bed.
Reality: sometimes we read, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we binge and read and read and read, and then days pass without one book.
OH how that pains me, but it is our reality. It is her rhythm.
I read one whole chapter of wind in the willows out loud while she played on day. But that was exactly once.  Play, for Della, is INTERACTIVE. Yes indeed.
So that was anomalous.

The llama llama books are way too intense for my sensitive little one (we are working on emotional stuff other ways),  so although there is a great love of llamas, we don't read them at all.
YAY for everything from Sandra Boynton. And the little version of the alphabet book by Seuss. (Big A little a what begins with A)...
YAY for barefoot books (what's in the forest dark and deep?  and Riding my tractor...)
YAY for the other books (a visual dictionary that is totally annoying, carrot sticks with the world "carrots" underneath.. I WILL be sharpie-ing the word "Sticks")

So here's the truth. I hear stories about little ones loving books, loving being read to, loving reading or playing with books and I hear my inside voice saying "it's ok, it's just not happening yet.... "  and I hear my own longing in that. I feel my own longing because of my own relationship with books.  Seriously, I cannot imagine what I would have done (what I would do) without them.

And when, as a parent person you feel like you are missing out, or like your kid is missing out, there is a panic as if somehow we are running out of time... when in fact, we are just having a different experience.

We watch SO MANY VIDEOS it is embarassing. Why? because it is her downtime. It is when she shifts into the gear I assumed she would shift into with reading.
She imagines, and recounts, and tells *those* stories.  Talks about *those* characters.
She is so intensely kinetic, I am not surprised, really, that her stillness comes only when there is action to *watch*.  I imagine, too, that this may change as she develops her own internal movie-making capabilities, you know, the ones that get triggered by, say, hearing stories.  Say, maybe stories that are being made up, or even, you know, READ ALOUD.



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a charming smile!

sprogblogger said...

Ach, she is so beautiful! With or without the wildhair!

And at the moment, Hen's other great passion is jumping on the couch. And taking off all his clothes and jumping 'into the pool' of my bed. And jumping down the stairs. And off chairs. I'm delighted he loves to read, too, but in no way do I EXPECT this to be a passion that lasts forever (do I so hope? Oh YES. But his world is changing so much every day that I expect nothing to stay the same!)

Love seeing photos of her, such a beauty, so much personality shining through in the pictures. And we really MUST get together one of these days. I suspect Hen & Della would really love the other's company, too!

Anonymous said...

We have had good luck with the following hair care routine for our guy's frizz fro (as we call it).
Washed ONLY with conditioner once a week (avoid wetting it the rest of the time).
Whenever it looks dry we rub a little coconut oil into his hair (a few times a week)
For curl "refreshing" we spray in the california baby detangler and scrunch.

The key for us has been coconut oil--a little rubbed between the hands and then scrunched into his hair has been nigh miraculous.

Pepper said...

She is just so gorgeous. And I had to tell you that. Also, yay for Sandra Boynton! Has she written anything that ISN'T awesome?

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

Her hair looks gorgeous either way. But as someone who struggles with brushing a straight-haired girl's hair every day (usually with lots of crying, by her) I definitely understand the desire for less chaos.

My blog friend Ernessa Carter just, less than a month ago, co-wrote a book about dealing with hair like Della's, including advice for biracial kids' parents for whom dealing with such hair is a new experience: Better than Good Hair.

The books that Burrito and Tamale loved best at Della's age, aside from various holiday/seasonal books and many books that I couldn't stand or got sick of so will not recommend, included Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See and some of the sequels; all of the Mini Masters art books by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober; Leslie Patricelli's books; and I Am A Bunny by Ole Risom and Richard Scarry. Oh, I could read I Am A Bunny 30 times in a day... good thing, since I actually have.

B. said...

Have you made it to the library with Della? Charlotte loves books, but her favorites are always the ones she most recently picked out, all by herself, from the library. Even when they're awful. Our library also has Reading Rainbow videos- books are read and pages shown, but there's no animation. It might bridge the gap between watching and reading. Charlotte will sit through anything if it's on the TV.

Oh, and we happened upon some books at the library that have no words in them, just a story in pictures. Charlotte really liked making up stories to go with the pictures, and it was interesting to watch which details impressed her enough to include in her narrative. I can't remember the author, but can look it up in my borrowing history if you're interested.

We watch far too much TV for my taste, too. It's often the only thing I can think of to occupy Charlotte while I put Maggie down for a nap or take a shower. So, you're not alone. It scares me to think of how much TV less-concerned parents let their toddlers watch.

Thank you, Baby Smiling, for your suggested books. I'll be looking for them on our next trip to the library.

B. said...

p.s. It's been said, and I'm sure you're well aware of it, but Della is absolutely beautiful. That smile- so contagious!