She Lets Me Do Her Hair

I still remember the first time I realized Molly was a 'hair brusher'.  She'd gotten a Dora the Explorer doll with hair for her birthday (I'm fairly sure it was her second) and she sat on the floor brushing that doll's hair for TWO HOURS.  Brush, brush brush...brush, brush, brush...brush, brush, brush.  She was almost in a trance, she brushed Dora's hair with such methodical focus.

To this day, she will sit with a Barbie doll or her American Girl Doll, and just brush hair for as long as I'll let her.  

It didn't dawn on me until recently that we have this trait in common. 

Every morning, after she uses the potty, brushes her teeth, gets dressed and makes her bed (she's so slow at this that the boys are always done and downstairs) we stand in the bathroom together and I do her hair in the mirror.  She stands on the stool by the left sink...she's almost too tall for me to see the top of her head (I can't bear the thought that she's so big she can see the mirror without a stool!)  

Then I get to enjoy five or ten minutes of brushing the massive tangles out of her hair and styling it into something special for the day.  We use the Tangle Teezer brush that we first saw at KidSnips.  It's been a lifesaver!!

Image from My Beauty-Full Life

We also use gobs of leave-in conditioner and "Morning Miracle" spray gel as a lice-repellant.

Since the great lice disaster of 2011, I rarely let her wear her hair down, even though it's grown long past her shoulders and she'd love to show it off!  So we braid it, we put it in ponytails, or maybe a messy bun (or two), and we still tuck a bow in the front to hold the wisps off her face.  Lately I've been taking the hair at her crown and twisting or braiding it back to her ponytail, so that she doesn't need a bow (but we still usually put one in anyway).  

The day she stops wearing bows altogether will be a dark one in this house!

It's such a special time for me, those few precious minutes where it's just her and I.  Jack gets special outings with Daddy all the time (it's the squeaky wheel scenario) and Ben gets time alone with me all day while the big kids are in school.  But Molly is not "squeaky" or home alone with me anymore, and those few minutes (along with the few minutes we spend doing her bedtime routine) are all the "alone time" we get.

I thank her all the time for letting me do her hair, because I know so many little girls that scream and shriek and won't let their mothers near their hair.  My sweet girl lets me indulge, and stands still while I figure out how to use all twelve thumbs to make a french braid.  

Someday I hope she has the joy of having a little girl of her own.  One with as sweet a disposition as she has, who lets her "Momu" brush her hair and indulge her inner "hair brusher".

If not, she can always come to visit me in the retirement community and brush mine!