Fwee Yeez Ode!

Finally! It's official! Libby is three!

She's actually been telling everyone that she is three for a long time. I thought I blogged about this six months ago, but I can't find the post. This means you get a backstory! (Heinz Doofenschmirtz would love me for all of my backstories).

Precisely on May 10, 2011...  Libby announced, "Today is my Birfday. I'm Fwee Yeez Ode. You will buy me a present and it will be a tea set." On the agreement that she would stop wearing diapers during the daytime and stop breastfeeding, we made a deal. We sang Happy Birthday to You and gave her a tea set. Who says you can't be three when you wanna be?

Now, six months later, she actually did turn three. For the past six months, she's been telling people that she is three. How old are you? Three. Never ever did she admit to only being two. The calendar caught up to her after all this time and now she really is three. Try telling her that! She gives a look of "What? Are you just now catching on? Good Lord, woman, I've been three for a long time!" In the weeks leading up to her birthday, she was very confused. She was fine with having a party, but for her 3rd birthday, are you kidding? She insisted that she was already three.

We had a party anyway. She was fine with that. She really didn't care about having a birthday party or getting presents or anything, because in her mind, it wasn't her birthday. She's three already and she remembers getting her tea set. It is one of her most favorite toys!

A party ensued. We invited her little friends for a casual cake and playdate style birthday party.  Since Libby is sufficiently spoiled already, I told my friends "no gifts".  The response to that was "what size does she wear?" and "does she have this toy yet?". I sent out an addendum to my "no gifts" request. I told my generous friends, "Fine, bring gifts! I know you love to shop for birthday gifts and I can't stop you. We will have a gift exchange: bring one, get one. It'll be fun!"  This was genius!

We put all of the presents on the grass in a little cluster and had the kids hold hands and play ring around the rosy. When they all fell down, they got the gift that was right in front of them. It worked great! One boy just wanted the gift he brought so he reached over and grabbed it. His mom said he threw a fit in the store when she told him he couldn't keep it. It was a Memory game, in fact, we already have it. He wanted it; he got it! Another boy got some Little Mermaid pajamas so he traded with a girl and he took home a dinosaur book. Sweet! The little girl who got the pajamas loved them but her mama told her to leave them here for Libby since she had plenty of pajamas and they were moving her up to the next size. Libby got a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt, plus the pajamas. She loved her presents! Gracie got a box of crayons and a coloring book. Charlie got a Lightning McQueen book that makes sounds. Everyone was thrilled with the gift exchange and some of the moms said they are going to do that at their next birthday parties too. The kids were pretty excited and the birthday girl didn't feel like she wasn't being spoiled enough. She got a present too! They are too little to feel entitled to 12 gifts while nobody else gets one. With the gift exchange every kid was all smiles and it was fair but not overwhelming. No tears, who could ask for a better birthday party than that!

We all came in and had cake. Singing Happy Birthday to Libby was great, she loved it! I wish I could say the same for her big sister; she never has enjoyed a crowd of people singing at her like that. Too much pressure I guess. Libby loved it and she blew out her three little candles faster than I could light them.

We had a little family party the next day just to give her the presents that we got for her. We had leftover cake, sang again and gave her three gifts.  She got two soft princess dolls and a doctor kit.

On Monday, we took her to get her very first haircut. Her hair is so thin and wispy and it doesn't grow very fast, so I really didn't want to take her in for her first haircut, but she's three! It's gotta happen sometime! She wanted to go too. She loved it, she was thrilled that she got to get her hair cut and she likes her new hair too. She didn't get much cut off, just had it evened out and trimmed straight across. I didn't want her to have bangs and didn't want her hair to be very short since she likes to have a pony tail once in a while. It was fun, she loved getting her hair cut!

So, now she's really truly three years old. 

Where are my shoulders?

I think all hairdressers should be required to take an anatomy class. Basic anatomy, nothing overly complicated. I honestly think knowing the difference between shoulders and ears could be a valuable tool of their trade.

I went to get a haircut. Why do I torture myself? I should just let it grow and not worry about damaged ends, it would be less irritating than getting a haircut.

I said to the lady with the tri-color mohawk, "Shoulder length all the way around". I told her, "It is really important to me that I can pull my hair back into a pony tail, so no layers can be shorter than shoulder length."  She acted like she totally understood.  I pointed, she nodded, I hoped for the best.

My shoulders are apparently somewhere between my neck and the top of my head. Odd, I thought that's where my ears were. Who knows, these hairdressers don't seem to!

She gave me a cute wedge cut that is a little bit longer in the front. My daughter said it was an A line and stacked in the back. The hairdresser said my curls will make it seem shorter, but its just what I wanted. Hmmm.  Really? I didn't want a Dorothy Hamel cut, I wanted a shoulder length all the way around cut!

I cannot pull it back into a pony tail now. I've tried, it's too short and the pony tail stump that I can get with about half my hair won't hold. I have hair hanging on my neck in the middle of a hot summer. This does not make me happy, but it does make me sweaty and itchy. My neighbor told me it was cute. I don't care if it's cute, its covering half my neck and it's hanging in my face. Grrrr!

Actually, it is kinda cute and I do like it.  It could be worse, and it has been.  Too bad it's the wrong time of year to have hair I can't pull back.

I'm so glad that I taught all of my children the different body parts. All of my girls knew nearly every part before they were even two  years old. Neck. Shoulders. Ears. Chin. They could all teach hair school! I wish they would so I could get a decent haircut someday. Sigh. Next time, I'll let Gracie and Libby trim it. Of course, I have to wait several months because its so short it won't need a trim for ages.

Why do women like getting their hair done anyway?