Lu's 'Do, Part Two

OK, this is beginning to get a little ridiculous.  When it was time to take Ty to the orthodontist, Lucy appeared out of the bathroom looking like this.  She didn't want any "help" and insisted her hair was "done."  We did get a few strange looks, but that could've been from her bunny-hopping as much as her hair-do.

I guess I'm struggling to know what kind of boundaries to place on my imaginative, bright, stubborn daughter.  In her eyes, she was beautiful. Who am I to quash that?  I just have visions of a teen-ager- with shellacked bangs, blue eye-liner, neon t-shirts and too tight acid-washed jeans- walking around thinking she was something hot.  But 20 years later,  realizing she looked ridiculous.  

Oh, wait.  That was me.

The Elephant in the Room

Every day, Lucy asks me to play, and I try to devote a little bit of time and attention on her.  Today, I noticed there was something different about her.  Hmm, gasp, she has bangs now! "Lucy, you cut your hair!" I didn't yell, but the shock was definitely apparent in my voice.

"No, I didn't," she calmly replied.  "The pretend elephant did."  

Now, I must share a word on Lucy's pretend animals.  She has a zoo of pretend friends.  It's difficult to remember who's who, who's visiting the house at any given time, who can drive and who is allergic to peanut butter.  They've always been well-behaved and welcomed in our house.  Until now.  

I told her that her pretend friends were welcome in our house, as long as they obey our rules.  Anytime she has guests, she must insure that her friends- pretend or real- follow our family rules.  

"I know.  I told her that!"  It was hard not to laugh at her insistent face, and I knew she whole-heartedly believed what she was saying was true.  While bangs aren't my favorite, I'd heard worse hair-cutting horror stories and this was a style I could live with.  I figured I'd let it blow over and we'd make a trip to the salon this weekend.  But as she bent over to retrieve one of her toys, I noticed that bangs weren't all the elephant cut.

On the left side of her head, there was a strand of hair obviously absent.  This would not be a cut easily hidden.  We promptly ended our playing, washed her hair, and took off for the "hair-cutting store."

Lucy told her stylist- also Lucy- that she wanted short hair now, still insisting that the elephant was the culprit in this affair.  She was extremely excited for the results.  
That night, she went to a friend's house.  As she walked in the door, he asked Lucy if an elephant had really cut her hair.  (I'd already spouted to his mom.)  "No, I did it," she said.  "I just wanted my hair short."

And now my baby isn't my baby anymore.  She looks every bit as "big girl" as she tells me she is.  Which I guess I can live with.  But if that elephant tries anything else . . . 

Third Time's a Charm

Yesterday was a day off from school.  The reason?  We're not sure.  I heard it was a teacher work day, but all the teachers I talked to were taking the day off.  

To celebrate our freedom, we drove down-town and met Jason at work.  He took us on a tour of the tunnels, which the kids loved.  Then he took us to see his cubicle.  The kids were impressed that Daddy worked in one of those amazing skyscrapers that make up the Houston skyline.  Jason ditched the rest of the day's work and came with us to the Children's Museum.  We STILL missed the areas Randy wanted to visit (see here and here for our previous attempts) due to some construction.  We bought a year's family pass and will go back after the renovations are finished in March.  Still, the kid's had a GREAT time and Jason did an amazing  job recording our day.  

Here is a link to the slide show on YouTube.  Posting it here just didn't do it justice to Jason's hard work.  

Potty Training

A couple of weeks ago, I needed to use the bathroom while visiting the library.  As I closed the stall door, I noticed a dollar bill taped beneath the coat hook.  On it was written, "Bless you with good health, joy, peace and prosperity."  It was probably no accident that the back of the bill was showing with the inscription "In God We Trust" displayed.  

I took those few moments of privacy to ponder who would go around taping money to public doors.  What kind of person- hopefully female- decides to do this?  How often does she do this?  Why?  She'll never know who received the cash or what they did with it.  What was her motivation?  What kind of reward does she hope to gain?  Then I started to wonder about the person I am.  Do I give without hope of recognition or reward?  Do I hope for other's well-being without knowing them?  Do I see a need and fill it?  I left the bill there, figuring someone needier than me would appreciate it.

A couple of days after the bathroom incident, I was walking across the parking lot to Wal-Mart, my home away from home.  I was concentrating on the things I had to get done and was barely registering who was around me, just enough so that I didn't walk into them.  A couple was walking in front of me.  I wouldn't have noticed them, except the man veered away from his companion and approached a middle-aged woman, unloading her haul.  Still sitting in the cart were three water bottles, the kind that you have to wrestle upside-down onto a dispenser.  The man asked the woman if he could help her get the bottles into her car.  I'll never forget the look of appreciation that flashed over her face.  I kept walking, but thought how wonderful that man was- to see a need and then to do something about it.  I determined I would do that too.

Yesterday, our family was sitting in the chapel waiting for Sacrament to start.  It was Scout Sunday, so several married men were asked to help pass.  Sis. M's infant daughter started to wail, but she didn't want to leave her three young children alone.  I must admit that I didn't even notice her plight until our Elder's Quorum President sat beside her and asked if he could sit with her kids.  That same look of gratitude flashed on Sis. M's face that I saw in the parking lot.  I felt ashamed that there was a need right in front of me that I missed.  Obviously, I have a lot more work to do in noticing the needs of people around me so that I can actually do something about it.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

Saturday was that day every Cub Scout loves- the Pinewood Derby.  Randy and Jason worked hard to produce a winning car.  OK, Jason worked hard, but Randy enjoyed painting his Megamatic-inspired theme.  Apparently, there was a great deal of symbolism involved that I didn't notice until he explained it to me.  On the front of the car was an "M" for Megamatic, and on the back was a "J" for Jaddle- Megamatic's nemesis.  Randy was confident it would be a winning car, because good always defeats evil and Megamatic would go down first.  (If you don't know who Megamatic is, don't feel like you are completely out of the superhero loop.  Megamatic is Randy's own made-up super-hero/imaginary friend.)

Because of my reputation as the "Meanest Mom Ever," I was given the position of "Track Bouncer."  My job was essentially to keep the kids away from the track.  I felt inspired at 2 AM and brought a roll of blue painter's tape.  Minutes before the racing started, I laid down the "blue line of death" about 3 feet away from the track.  Even without saying anything, most of the kids found seats on the far side of the line and it worked like a charm.

Randy's car did turn out to be a winner.  Out of the five boys in his den, he took first in every heat.  Jason and I tried to teach him how to be a "good winner" but he still had to strike the winner pose when his name was called.   Randy now qualifies to go to the District races.  But I think we are keeping that a big secret from him and we will end the 2009 season as winners.

Here's a short video of the exciting action: