Mommy and Sweet Pea

We have never cut Sweet Pea's hair, and it has gotten longer than shoulder length, and is pretty wild with a cowlick in the back and some curls. She doesn't like to spend much time sitting still, so we have always had a hard time getting it pulled back nicely. Luckily, our daycare provider is amazing with hair and so Sweet Pea comes home in the afternoons with such pretty creations as these: Double french braids (pay attention to the hair only, please) Pigtails with zigzag part Ponytail with headband She LOVES having her hair made pretty by her daycare provider, and I have learned a few tricks about how to get the hair smooth, how to not pull, and how to get it to stay in. I still am nowhere near as skilled as I'd like to be someday, but I have gotten better! The tips I've gotten so far are: use a spray bottle to mist the hair as you brush it out; hold the hair above the point where you are combing or removing a hairtie; and use the tight rubber bands.

My daughter amazes me every day. Sweet Pea says complete sentences like: I'm sitting down; I want some milk; Dada eat that. She sings songs, "reads" books, and rocks her babies to sleep. She has strong opinions: "turn it off, Mama" "I need that!" but still says thank you and please most of the time, which makes me so proud. She tells us she's "going running" then takes off down the hall, and spills things and then says "oops, I dropped it!" The rough times lately, that feel like we are entering the 'terrible twos,' are the occasional ten minutes of crying over something as small as not getting a second squirt of toothpaste on her toothbrush, or having a pen taken away that she was about to use to draw on the wall. Most of the time we can avoid this kind of total emotional over-reaction by offering a trade, explaining an alternative, distracting, or making it a game, but sometimes she is just too focused on the thing th...