I thought July would never end.
Last Friday Erica decided to cut her own hair in the basement with a little pair of kid scissors. A week prior, her little friend Madison cut her own hair in our basement but Erica didn't cut hers, just encouraged Madison (I'm speculating here. Trying to get 2 preschoolers to explain just what went down is impossible). But since Erica left her hair alone, I hoped it meant that she learned her lesson last summer when she cut her own hair. Nope. Some lessons have to be learned twice, especially when the first lesson was when you were 3 and you don't remember.
Here's her custom haircut.
Here's what her hair used to look like, just to refresh our memories.
It looks like she was trying to give herself a mullet.
I gasped and was very upset for a multitude of reasons. #1. It was right in front on both sides so impossible to hide (last year's cut was hair underneath at least). #2. We had finally gotten her hair all one layer and ready to grow out. She has very thin hair and the hair on top and front grows so slowly. Now we are a year, maybe two, away from braids or any length past her shoulders.
To even it up with the sides, I had to cut it so short. "I don't like it," she pouted when I showed her in the mirror.
I'm really hoping she learned her lesson this time. (Don't mind the popsicle face. She got to eat one while I cut away.)
She also flushed an apple down the toilet and clogged it up good. She's on a roll this week.
Two 4-year-olds, two self-imposed bobs.
But I think these little pig-tails are pretty dang cute.
She looks so much younger which I guess is a plus since she's growing up so fast. She's almost 4 1/2! She asks every day if tomorrow is pre-school. She swings back and forth from being super excited to nervous and full of second thoughts. I anticipate she'll be pretty clingy the first day but will stay without crying and have no problems after that. She plays with princesses and blocks most of the time but is getting into Legos too. She eats grapes, apples (pretty much any fruit), granola bars, slices of bread, yogurt, applesauce, chicken drumsticks, and ice cream. She watches really inane singing shows on Amazon, Cloe's Closet, Frozen, and anything with a princess. She is a huge pain at bedtime. She will not clean up anything so she's banned from the toy closet. She's still my most easy-going kid if that tells you anything!
Henry and James play together more and more which is so nice. Henry is only nice to James so it's refreshing. James stays pretty occupied with the cars, blocks, and Legos Henry plays with so win-win for all of us. There's a good chance a portion of these Legos end up in his diaper.
He's pretty much the cutest and so funny. He's putting sentences together and repeats them over and over. "Henry dump cars." "Daddy car" (Meaning Dad went away in his car) "Happy blankie to you" (When he wants me to sing Happy Birthday to his blanket). Happy Birthday is his favorite song and I sing it to him before laying him down. He even blows out imaginary candles at the end. He pretty much knows all words and repeats everything he hears (which can be bad with potty-mouth Henry around). He's a great sleeper, great napper, loves grapes more than Erica and I do and does this super annoying thing where he drops his food off his high-chair when he's done eating. He doesn't let me feed him anything so every meal ends up with a shower over at the sink. He doesn't cry in nursery if he takes his blanket, gets to stay in the toy room the entire time, and Sis. Whittikiend holds him. I'll take it!
Sarah is ready to go back to school. She already knows what she's wearing on the first day. I got her a
new backpack for the first time since kindergarten and it's the one she'll have at least through middle school so that's a weird idea. She wants to bake every day (I wonder where she got that from) and if she were a cleaner baker I would let her. She and her friends are always coming up with elaborate projects, dance routines, business ideas. It's exhausting. Can't you guys just play a board game? But she's such a good helper it's hard to say no so my living room turns into a workshop for cardboard tables for a bake sale that never happens.
She's my reader. All the librarians think she's the cutest thing and she takes all their recommendations. Her library bag gets too heavy for her to carry and going once a week isn't often enough for her. She stays up way too late reading.
Oh Henry. Such a big sweet stinker. Henry on most days gets his jobs done quickly so that he can run amuck in the neighborhood bouncing between friends' houses. He stops at home briefly to make a jam sandwich and grab a popsicle then he's off again until right before dinner. When he's home, he plays with Erica but that evolves to wrestling, then teasing, then making her cry, so I give him chores as a punishment and distraction and by the time dinner rolls around, I'm so done. Sometimes he gets into "big idea" mode and comes up with stuff like "National Kid Exercise Day" and plans exercise routines and reward systems. It's so cute and I really hope he develops that part of his personality and less of his poop jokes and wrestling moves side.
For the most part, they are all best friends and I don't even think they realize what a big part of each other's personalities and upbringing they are. Who would Erica be without Henry? Who would James be without Erica? Who would any of them be without Sarah?
Because every one of them has bits of the others. They pass down games, ideas, traditions. Pass around habits, toys, new-found favorite songs and shows.
They are there for each other nearly, if not more, than I am.
As much as I am tired of summer, (So so so tired.) I will miss these mornings that I don't see them until 9:30 because they've been downstairs or on the trampoline from before I woke up playing family or building a fort to surprise James.
But I could do with a little less fighting. And a lot less of "Not me, [sibling] got it out."
