Let's talk hair...

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
(From the musical Hair)

So let's talk hair - more specific, toddler hair. A subject that I think have plenty of mommies literally with their hands in their hair on a regular basis. It's not just the cutting - a drama in itself, it's also just the washing, the keeping clean etc. The daily combing of little girl hair, the ponytails and all.

The boys are relatively easy for me - I cut their hair at home with a clipper (as I do Hunter's). We save heaps of money and I do believe the trauma is nothing more, but maybe less than at a hairdresser. I keep their hair very short but washing is also not without drama. The accusations of deliberately spilling shampoo in eyes never stops. Tears are guaranteed somewhere, even if it is only mommy's out of frustration. Just this sometimes, I have to admit, makes me stretch that hair wash to once a week. Yes I know, bad mommy. But I can only take so much hair related misery.

The real drama of course lies in the locks of the Princess. She has a huge a mount of very fine hair - that used to curl but now only does so if coaxed with setting lotion and a lot of spongy curlers. But it tangles - always. For no reason at all. Leave it longer than 3 days without washing and you have huge tangles. Wash it, and automatically you have huge tangles. The wonderful de-tangling comb that my kind hairdresser gave me combined with de- tangling spray helps a lot. But the crying, fighting and complaining come hair wash time is always there. Now, having learned the lesson of being the "owner" of her own body, taught by well meaning parents and teachers as we protect our children from the predators out there, is bouncing back at me. Because now I have to hear: LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE! IT'S MY BODY! Whilst simply trying to comb out and dry her hair. Eish! And then there is the everyday mini drama of brushing and fixing before school.

But long hair we shall have - I like a little girl with long hair. I also was a girl with long hair for most of my life. And she wants it long. So the fights shall continue. One thing I do know for sure - we will not be back at the length it used to be until we cut it shorter in December and once again in April. Shoulder length is fine

So how often do you wash your kids hair?

 Oh gosh, and now I have that other great song from the musical turning in my head

When the moon is in the seventh house
And jupiter aligns with mars
The peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of aquarius
The age of aquarius

Aquarius
Aquarius

Enjoy! And please do not swwear at me when at 2 tomorrow morning you still find yourself singing Aquariuuuuus! Aquariuuuuus!

A Lego party

On Saturday afternoon the kids attended a Lego party - great theme for a 6 year old boy. And of course, most guests bought Lego as a gift - he literally had a Lego feast. 

Great cake - but once again I noticed that the kids do not eat the sugarpaste coating.

The table was so cute and those little coloured squares on the right - coconut ice. The party packs were primary colour bags with each kid's name in "Lego" font.

 When we got home the Princess asked me to take down my Lego - these are mine from my childhood. All 3 of them had much fun for the evening and Sunday. Just goes to show - after 20 years still  in perfect condition. Got to hand it to Lego - super durable and really timeless.

 

Playing along today with Angie

March 2011 - Book 7

 

Plaasmoord van Karin Brynard

Plaasmoorde het nog nooit werklik in die Noord-Kaap hulle brutale verskyning gemaak nie, maar 'n jong vrou word op haar plaas brutaal vermoor. By dit alles neem die vee diefstalle in die kontrei dag vir dag toe.

Aanvanklik wou ek dlag nie die boek lees nie want die onderwerp ontstel my geweldig. Maar op aandrang van 'n vriendin her ek dit 'n kans gegee en gelees en wat 'n storie! Heerlike karakters en 'n uiters spannende en ingewikkelde storielyn maak hierdie 'n heerlike en fasinerende lees. Gooi 'n bietjie politiek by en jy het 'n wenner.

Dit mag onregverdig wees om die skrywer met Deon Meyer te vergelyk (aan wie sy erkenning as 'n mentors figuur gee), maar die boek vergelyk goed terwyl dit die unieke kenmerke van die skrywer toon.

Sterk aan te beveel as jy van die tipe fiksie hou - 'n wel verdiende spannende 8/10  

Last night

as we were busy, carefully choosing her outfit for school today it suddenly out of the blue, struck me like a lightening bolt. Next year she will be in uniform! It's her last year of careless daily play. Of digging through her cupboard to find that specific desired item - a denim waistcoat in this case. My baby will be in grade 1 next year. Gee, really she grew up way too fast.

Sometimes you look at your child and you wish that they will outgrow a phase - something that might be particularly challenging. With her it certainly was the evening colic around 5 months where we had solid screaming for 2 to 3 hours every night. And possibly the mommy attachment issues around a year.

But most of the times you wish you can capture the moment, hold them close and keep them just the way they are - just a little bit longer. As I am now.  

This post was inspired by Tanya's post and my comment on it.

March 2011 - Book 6

The Venetian House by Mary Nickson

This book was one of those pleasant bookclub surprises - you know, the type of books you will never buy, but on recommendation take out at the bookclub and then thoroughly enjoy.

When Victoria's husband Richard, dies unexpectedly she goes back to Vrahos, the old family home where her grandmother lives on the island Corfu. It is her happy place - where she feels sheltered and share many happy memories. Patrick, a photographer of old and beautiful houses, manhandled by his selfish wife, is sent to document the magic of the Villa and it's owner.

A multi generational love story, it reads with ease and relatively fast for the thickness of the book. A good and easy middle of the road type of story, but well worth the read.

A super idea for a holiday read - 7/10

I won! A lot of books.

I love to enter competitions but do not have a lot of time. So if I spot something and entering is quick and easy I do it. Last Friday Exclusive books launched a competition for a one minute shopping dash on their Facebook page - you just had to email your name, your local branch and telephone number. Which I did, but did not win. This past Friday they did the same - by chance a colleague was on Facebook at 10am when they put the competition out and we all emailed immediately. At 12:10 another colleague shouted from the far end of the open plan office that I had won for our local branch. Boy, was I happy. A dream for any book lover. It was followed by an email explaining to me what to do.

At our local branch the manger gave me big bags and cleared the area for me for one minute. Initially I thought that I would get a lot of kiddies books for the next couple of parties, but there were almost nothing in Afrikaans and a lot of the English stuff was quite cheap (did some scouting before hand) So I decided to get a nice couple of coffee table books, and something for the kids. In 1 minute I got 23 items )21 books and 2 Indy girl audio books for the princess) to the value of R 3 040,00. What a joy - a lot of reading happened over the weekend and the kids loved their books too.Thanks Exclusive books !

BTW - you should see that @Taste Marocco@ book - actually 3 books in a box - one about the place, one about the food(and recipes) and one about the architecture and design.

July 2009 - book 22

'n Tapisserie met klein diere van Erika Murray-Theron 

Ek was aangenaam verras deur hierdie boek - ek het altyd gedink dat die skrywer jou tipiese Afrikaanse romantiese boeke skryf. Maar nee, sy skryf meesterlike stories wat ver buite die gewone raamwerk span.

In hierdie boek ontmoet 'n uiters komplekse en diverse familie mekaar vir 'n soort van reunie rondom 'n vakansie. Die uiteenlopende karakters, wat elkeen op sy eie manier tot jou spreek, het ook uiteenlopende geskiedenisse, fyn verweef met mekaar. Dan is daar ook die geraamtes in die familiekas wat ontbloot word.

Werklik 'n goeie en verrassende lees - 8/10