Girlie Girl

Princess Caitlin and Prince Inkspot

Our next door neighbor's daughter and three grand kids moved in with her recently. One of the kids is an 8 year old girl named Natalie. Caitlin and Natalie have become close friends -- I think Caitlin is like a little living doll to Natalie. She dresses her up in Caitlin's dress-up clothes, nice dresses, jewelry, princess tiaras, etc. She fixes and brushes Caitlin's hair. They play "dollies" together and Ring Around the Rosie.

Unfortunately, Natalie and her family will be moving next month. Caitlin will miss her so much!

Some of the girlie habits and play have rubbed off on our little tomboy. She wants to play dress up and "dollies" with everyone now! And, she'll let Natalie brush her hair without screaming -- Caitlin screams and fights when I come anywhere near her with a hairbrush!
Here are some photos of the girliness:

Natalie fixing Caitlin's hair

Caitlin and Natalie making dirt "cakes"

A photo Natalie took of Caitlin after fixing her hair

Christmas Pyramid

Conall has been wanting to put up "that thing with the candles and helicopter blades" ever since December began. That "thing" is our Christmas pyramid, which Na Na bought for us while visiting Germany a few years ago and has become a family tradition -- in part due to our German heritage and in part due to how much Conall likes it. Conall loves anything with moving parts and has always studied even the simplest machine with great interest.

Last night, as we lit the candles and watched the pyramid spin, Conall began asking questions about it. His class is studying holiday traditions from all over the world, so he is very interested in holiday traditions, but doesn't quite have it figured out yet. I guess since it has candles, he kept asking me if it was a "Hanukkah thing."

To try to help Conall remember the pyramid's name, I started going over memories of our Christmas pyramid and Na Na's. I asked him if he remembered the year that he jumped toward it and singed his eyebrows. He looked at me funny, grabbed his hair at the front where his cowlick is and said "Is that what happened to my hair right here?". Stu and I roared with laughter.

Haircuts and Rewards of Being a Mommy

I finally found an easy way to get my hair cut! After I picked Conall up from school we headed to Pigtails and Crewcuts . Conall loves this place. Conall sat in an airplane while he got his haircut and Caitlin sat in a taxi cab. They both got their hair cut while watching a movie and then headed off to play with trains and other toys while I got my hair cut. Yippee -- and way over due -- they cut 3 inches off my hair!

On the way out to the car, Caitlin fell and scraped her knee. I was so proud of her -- she didn't cry even though it was a pretty bad scrape. When we got home, I kissed it, cleaned it, and bandaged it. When Stu got home, Caitlin told him that she had a "boo boo" but that mommy had made it all better. Isn't that sweet?

Gorgeous

We went after school today to get Conall a haircut at his favorite place, Pigtails and Crewcuts. On the way home I was telling him how much I like his haircut.

Me "Your new haircut looks really nice. You looked nice before but the new haircut looks even better."
Conall "I'm gorgeous."

He said this very matter-of-factly, with a straight face, and no hint of boasting. He said it with utmost confidence and as if he was just stating a fact. I busted out laughing. Conall wanted to know what was so funny about him being gorgeous and then he got a case of the giggles.

Caitlin's First Haircut

I took Conall this afternoon to get a haircut at the new kids salon in town, Pigtails and Crewcuts. They have barber chairs shaped like a fire engine, a car, and an airplane. They also have tv sets playing kids shows and one even had some sort of Wii or Nintendo or other video game (you can tell I'm really up on all that).

Conall loved the fire engine seat and was happy to move on to the train table when he was done. He also got a great haircut for only a few dollars more than the barbershop!

They also offer a "First Haircut" package. So, on a whim, I got Caitlin her first haircut. She was really interested in the cool barber chairs, but didn't want to sit in one alone, and since they aren't adult-sized, she sat in my lap in the traditional barber chair.


They took a photo and kept her locks of hair for me. Caitlin wasn't sure what she thought of it, but she behaved fairly well. No screaming or crying as long as I held her. They just trimmed her hair a bit and added some layers to make her curls look a little prettier.


Here is the card we came home with that has her photo and hair on it.