Pretty

This morning came too fast for me. Olivia was up and chirping by 5 as is her norm for this week. She wakes up, comes to my bed, declares in her most cheerful voice that her pull-up is soaked and asks me to take it off her. Then she strips off her perfectly dry pajamas, top and bottom, and climbs into my bed nude. She likes to snuggle up in the warmth created by my sleepy body and want to feel it with every inch of skin possible, hence the nudity.

Last night after their bath, I rubbed some cream into both A’s and O’s hair. My aunt Lorry gave it to me for my birthday. It’s supposed to bring out the natural curl.

After Olivia was asleep, I combed Alyssa’s hair out (after getting the comb untangled from it, which was a NIGHTMARE, egads!!) and wrapped her strands around foam curlers. She asked me how she was supposed to sleep in those things. I told her to lay down and see how it felt.

She was fine.

This morning, she woke up excited to see how her hair looked.

I took the curlers out and she gasped as each curl boinged around her head. She loved it.

Olivia couldn’t stand not being in on the fun. I showed her her own hair, which was quite curly even without the help of curlers. She noted the curls with satisfaction and then twirled about the room in her sequined, tutued top.

Today is an early dismissal day from school. Because of this, Olivia doesn’t have school at all. She’s in the PM kinderkids class, so early dismissal days mean no school for her. Which meant she was going to Gram’s first thing this morning.

This just added to the excitement. She pranced about the house, showing off her conditioned curls, shaking them out and chapsticking her lips into waxy oblivion.

As I helped Alyssa shake out her own curls, Olivia once again joined us in the bathroom. This time, her little fingers were just a’wigglin’ as she suggested that since she was going to Gram’s this morning, perhaps she could just have a tiny little bit of mascara on her lashes.

Who am I to deny a child such a small request?

Once the curls were bouncy and the coats were donned, Olivia and I kissed Tom and Alyssa goodbye and hit the road.

During the 3-mile drive to Gram’s house, Olivia said to me, “At least my lashes are as pretty as the rest of me today.”

Ohhh, dear. That child. I think we’re going to be having the makeup fight so much sooner than I’d anticipated.

As for Alyssa, she was thrilled beyond measure by the bounciness of her curls this morning. And she never once mentioned the possibility of mascara or even chapstick. She’s already learned that a little bit of pretty goes a very long way.