Purple

I made the mistake of letting it slip last weekend that I have purple hair dye in the house. The minute the girls heard that, they lost their minds and the only thing they could think about was purple hair, purple hair, purple hair.

Olivia, surprisingly enough, was the one who let it go first.

Alyssa, on the other hand, waited desperately for 9pm on Sunday night, when Olivia was asleep and Once Upon a Time was over. At that point, there she was, all up in my face, saying, “What about purple hair?”

I sighed. It was a big, annoyed sigh and she didn’t even blink.

I told her the instructions said that she needed to have dry hair and we were not going to use the blow dryer on her hair at nine o’clock at night.

She blinked, as if to say, “And that’s a problem why?”

I sighed again and pulled her hair into a pony tail. I got the purple dye out of the cabinet and put on the gloves.

She said, “What about my wet hair?”

I told her it was only damp and it would probably be fine.

It was. I drenched the bottom two or so inches of her hair in purple dye, wrapped a snack baggie around it with a pony tail holder and sent her to bed.

I woke her up early enough yesterday so she could shower and wash the dye out of her hair. And there she is, with purple ends.

Olivia didn’t notice until yesterday afternoon. And was she pissed!

“When did you dye her hair purple?” she demanded the moment I walked into my mom’s house.

I smiled at her and answered her question.

“I want purple hair!” she declared, her hands on her hips for emphasis.

I told her I’d put purple on the very tips of her hair before her next bath but that wouldn’t be that night.

She insisted, “I want my whole head to be purple.”

I denied that insistence. I suggested that maybe during the summer, we’d get some of the dye that supposedly washes out and dye her whole head for a day. But we’re not going all purple during the school year. I may be that mom but even I have limits to my coolness.

She decided she’d gotten most of her demands and let it go. But I know that tonight, she’s going to be asking to take a bath and she won’t forget my promise to give her purple tips.

And so it begins.