Tumbling Locks and Small Lodged Objects

There was a time when I was content being a mom to just boys. When we were pregnant with our third, I was often asked, "Are you trying for a girl?" Actually, no, we were trying for a baby... Being a girl, I had gone through many catty, boy-crazy years and thought having boys was just fine.

I did daydream about it, though, and thought that if I did ever have a girl, I'd want her to have curly hair and dimples. Now these dreams are about as crazed as the "trying for a girl" thing... As though "trying" or "wanting" has anything to do with it. My gene pool was stacked against my desires as I have stick straight hair and my only dimples aren't cute and don't see the light of day.

(Enter God and His mercy) We DID have a girl, and low and behold she has both curly hair and a little "under-the-smile" dimple on one side- thanks to her Aunties Jamie and Marti. And d'you what? I LOVE having a little girl- almost every day!

Our little angel has been our "busy" child. (See the "Stuck in the Truck" post) How arrogant I once was, thinking children who wrote on walls or furniture, and generally destroyed things had terribly neglectful parents. I am so sorry! I was wrong! It's at least partially a personality thing (or we've really slid off the rocker!). We can be right there, almost upon her, and the "Ellie-imp" will come out and do a terribly naughty thing before we even see she's there! Or, our daughter will be in the sweetest mood, and BAM! She'll "paint" our quilt with a whole bottle of lotion(of course in the heaviest vanilla scent ever...)! Of course, she then realizes her sin, and "cleans it up for me" by schmeering it in until it's "gone."
ahhh... She IS a sweetie and we love her ohh so much, but because of her personality, I knew this day would come.

She did it. She was in the house with Doodle and she found a scissors and cut her hair. Noah and I were out, and my DH was in the garage with his latest building project. The younger two had been in and out, getting toys and going potty and the such, and during a trip in she got out a scissors and cut two big snips- one on each side of her face. I definitely thought I would cry, but I didn't. I think the fact that it's long enough to tuck behind her ears helps. It could be much worse. The sad thing? Now I know that what is left of her curls is temporary. What was "trimmed" has wave, but the Nellie Olson curls are gone...

That was yesterday. Today? She stuck a bead up her nose. Visible, but up there. Thankfully a short visit to our local clinic had it dislodged in short order. She was home in no time with a stash of suckers, stickers, books and crayons to boot.

So, God knew. He knew I didn't deserve it genepool-wise, but he gave me a girl with dimples and curls. He knew I'd need them to look at on days such as these. He knew the personality under the dimples and curls long before she was born, and He knew she'd have to be a cute one.