How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Lucy was born was short, fluffy hair. It had a bit of a strawberry blonde tint and it was as soft as could be. As it grew out it stayed straight and seemed to get darker. It seemed like all of sudden she woke up one morning with a tuft of curls on the top of her head. When she was my belly I talked to her a lot. I always asked her go healthy and strong and stay in her warm, dark, water home until she was completely ready to meet us. As my pregnancy went on and everything continued to go smoothly, I decided I would mention how much I would love it if she was snuggly. And toward the end I told her that curly hair wouldn’t hurt anyone J.

LueyBaby has been healthy and strong from the beginning. We are grateful for this every day. It turns out that in addition to being a snuggly baby she is also a snuggly toddler. She loves to be held tight when she is cold and when we read. She loves to share her love. She wallows all over me before her naps, before bed, and when she wakes up in the morning. My favorite part of the day is spending her first moments awake willowby wallowbying all over the bed. And her curls. They really are lovely.

But there are two problems with a head full of tight curls. The first one is that no one can seem to help themselves when they see her. As soon as she hears the word beautiful now she rubs her hair. It doesn’t matter what the person is commenting on. I wish I could make strangers comment on something other her looks, but we can’t stop them. We will help her realize who she is on the inside and teach her the important characteristics of caring for herself, for others, and for the environment. The second problem is that they are a knotty mess any time the back of her head makes contact with anything. The stroller, car seat, bike cart, bed. And she started to hate to get her hair combed. I made an appointment at a darling little hair shop for kids in Oakland and we took her to get her curly locks cut short.

She sat patiently and waited and watch the hairdresser’s every move. She didn’t flinch or cry or whine for one second. I couldn’t believe it. And now her hair is even cuter, which adds to problem number one. I see little kids with long hair all the time. Not interested. We are going to just keep it short until she has another opinion. It has made brushing her hair so much easier. 

Just relaxing. 

We are about three weeks off on Lucy’s well baby visits. Nonetheless, she had a spectacular 18 month well-baby appointment this past week. I finally got smart and started bringing in our basket of car books. I was willing to give her nursies after her immunization (hep a), but I really didn’t want to. Instead, I brought a pack of Annie’s bunnies gummies, the treat of all treats. She weighed in at 21 pounds and 14.3 ounces and is now 31 inches tall. She sat on the scale calmly (first time) and we watched the numbers turn read and move until the scale figured out her weight. She blew the nurse a kiss without prompting and asked for more when Dr. Brinkley left the room. Nana had shared her EMT equipment with her and that definitely helped Lucy’s comfort level. She didn’t cry one tear when she got the shot and she watched the nurse stick it right into her leg. I gave her one gummy before the shot, acknowledged the shot and the pain, and then offered another gummy. Orange bandaid and boom, done. Nothing. I was stunned.

For the rest of the evening she retold of the story about going to see the doctor.

Lucy: Doc

Me: Yep, we went to see Dr. Brinkely today.

Lucy: Eyes (close her eye and smashes her finger into it)

Me: Right. She used her light to look in your eyes. What else did she look at with her light?

Lucy: Ears (smashes finger into ears). Blah (sticks out tongue).

Me: You go it. And are you healthy and strong?

Lucy: Nods head/whole body. Rubs arm.

Me: Did you get a shot today? In your leg?

Lucy: Nods and rubs the wrong leg.

Me: In the other leg? Did it hurt a little?

Lucy: Ow (nods head/whole body).

Me: But then you ate gummies and got two stickers!

Lucy: Shows happy face.

When she is too quiet...she is probably reading.

It is amazing what a difference we are having in the same experiences at an older age. She now has some memory of some of things we do and it has greatly increased her comfort level and confidence. Rationalization may be my favorite aspect of brain development. We can talk about going to the doctor and the doctor can talk her through what is going to happen. Although this will continue to change and development, she gets it. At least enough to be able to reason with her (as long as all of her basic needs are met at the time).

“No!” “No, no!” It finally happened. Miss Independent learned every toddler’s favorite word. No. She can say it is clear as day. It has even transformed into a double word. She loves it. She says at no every chance she gets. She says no for yes. The first day she started saying no, (last Sunday, to be precise) was a bit of a long day. Lucy was working diligently to express her new found level of autonomy and opinions. We were working hard to be loving and patient. The week got better and better as we learned together to navigate this new world with her. We quickly realized that if we ask her a question and she answers it, we better be willing to respect her answer (which is probably going to be “no”). If we aren’t interested in being turned down, we need to present her with a statement rather than a question. And if she says no to us and it is a reasonable request, we are doing what we can to respect that. I am proud of her voice and her confidence to express her opinion. She is going to be one hell of a woman. Now, to get through toddlerhood in one piece J.